The Northeastern women’s ice hockey team made history Tuesday night after winning the first ever Women’s Beanpot Championship Game in the historic TD Garden.
The Beanpot is an annual ice hockey tournament between the four dominant college hockey teams in the Greater Boston Area: the Northeastern University Huskies, the Boston University Terriers, the Boston College Eagles and the Harvard University Crimson. The men’s tournament began in 1952, and the women’s began in 1979.
Boston Garden began hosting the Men’s Beanpot in 1954, with TD Garden taking over in 1996. The women’s teams, however, rotated their venue between the four participating schools’ arenas (at Northeastern, Harvard, Boston College and Boston University). This year marked the first time in which the women headed to TD to play a title game in the arena.
If you build it… they will come. And fans did.
According to TD Garden, 10,633 fans showed up and showed out, marking the game as one of the top-10 largest spectator crowds for women’s college hockey. In the first NCAA women’s hockey game played at TD Garden, the Northeastern Huskies won their 19th Beanpot Championship.
Last year, the Huskies won the Beanpot at Boston College in front of 1,346 spectators.
The TD crowd seemed to fire up the game as both teams fought for control of the puck and the ice immediately after the drop of the puck in the first few seconds. The game remained tied through the end of the second, primarily due to the skills of both goaltenders, Gwyneth Philips of the Huskies and Callie Shanahan of the Terriers. But with just a minute left in the period, forward Skylar Irving (NEU) scored.
After the blasting of “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne, Northeastern hockey’s theme song, and fairly high spirits in the Huskies’ stands, BU pulled Shanahan with three minutes left in the third period. Pulling the goalie is a tactical decision, usually made by a team behind by one with just a couple minutes or seconds left in the game. With the extra player down on offense, BU tied with just 58 seconds left in the third period and sent the Championship to overtime.
But the BU cheer did not last long as the 3-on-3 five minute period was cut short in just 27 seconds after Irving scored once again. Irving later won the 2024 Women’s Beanpot MVP honors.
The win feels even more historic when you realize that Northeastern also won the first ever Women’s Beanpot in 1979. It truly was a full circle moment for the program as the new Women’s Beanpot banner was raised to the rafters in front of fans and players alike directly next to the Men’s.
The best part of the night was being in the electric crowd full of hockey fans and women’s hockey fans. The attendance of students, alumni, former players, youth teams and hockey fans carried the high spirits throughout the arena.
Particularly with momentous achievements and occasions in history such as this one, we look towards the future. Seeing the groups of little girls in oversized hockey jerseys cheering and jumping for joy in the stands felt greater than just a singular game. Their faces lighting up at themselves on the jumbotron made me and probably every other person in that crowd feel proud as a fan.
The Women’s Beanpot at TD is certainly a historic step for one of Boston’s and college hockey’s favorite traditions. TD elevates the level of play, the level of attendance and the way we see women’s hockey in general. Let’s keep the momentum going.