Beanpot semifinal preview: Boston College vs. Northeastern
Boston College is the heavy favorite to win the 2025 Beanpot. Fanduel Sportsbook has their odds to win the tournament at -195. They are the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, according to both the Pairwise Comparison Rating System and USCHO.com’s Men’s DI Top-20 poll, so it is safe to say it’s the Eagles’ Beanpot to lose.
However, the Beanpot has not gone their way in almost a decade, as they have not won the tournament since 2016. Their opponents, the Northeastern Huskies (No. 23 in the Pairwise rankings), have been the most successful program in the Beanpot over the last decade and hold a current streak of six straight tournament finals. They’ve won five of the last six tournaments, including 2023 and 2024. So, Northeastern has a streak to protect.
Northeastern often comes into the Beanpot as heavy underdogs, but over the last few years they have managed to come away victorious. They will hope history repeats itself once more in 2025.
These two teams met in November in a home-and-home series that was split, each team winning in their home buildings. That was unexpected. BC was supposed to run the table with Northeastern, but after losing the first game on the road, the Huskies went back to Matthews Arena and played one of their most complete games all season in a 4-2 victory over the Eagles.
Northeastern always plays surprisingly well in the Beanpot, so while an upset is not inevitable, one can expect the Huskies to be a very tricky semifinal matchup for the Eagles. Also, the Huskies are not without their stars; Cam Lund, Jack Williams, and Vinny Borgesi are all Hobey Baker award nominees.
The path for Northeastern is similar to how they played BC in November; they must compete with and mitigate the outstanding offensive play from the Eagles’ Ryan Leonard, James Hagens, Gabe Perreault, and now even Teddy Stiga. Moreover, Huskies Cameron Whitehead will have to outplay Jacob Fowler, one of if not the best goaltender in the nation, for a second time in the season.
Long story short, the second of the two semifinal matchups should be a great game of hockey. All metrics suggest that Boston College should be the victorious team in the end. But with the unpredictability of the Beanpot tournament and the confidence that Northeastern likely possesses — considering their streak and their recent success against the Eagles — the Huskies could be poised to once again shock many on TD Garden ice.
Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Follow him on X @LukeGraham05.