The Queen Stays The Queen Stays The Queen- Northeastern Makes It 3 Beanpots in a Row
By Brendan Locke — January 24, 2024
Not once,
Not twice,
But thrice.
The Northeastern Huskies continue to have a red and black banner hang from the rafters of TD Garden in what has become a yearly tradition of winning a Beanpot, raising a banner, and celebrating at Two Saints Tavern.
Since 2018, Northeastern has won 9 of the 12 available Beanpots on both the men’s and women’s side.
This type of run has only been outdone by Harvard’s 7 in a row from 1999 to 2005.
And this year the Huskies did it in dominating fashion in front of an audience of 13,000, the largest ever for a women’s hockey game in Massachusetts and the 5th highest attended game in the United States for a women’s game.
The Huskies controlled much of the game from the jump and a large part of that came from their goalie, Lisa Jönsson.
So much of the Beanpot’s magic is the local aspect of it, it is something that only exists here, between these 4 schools. Every kid in New England who skates from a young age dreams of playing in this event.
To an outsider, it may not make a lot of sense, or leave them asking “What’s the big deal?”.
So I asked Jönsson, a freshman from Sweden exactly that, were you aware of what you were signing up for when you committed to Northeastern?
“Actually no, I knew it was a big tournament, and playing against the teams in your town is always fun. But I did not know it was this much attention around it, it’s been such an awesome experience”.
Sometimes it’s better to be naïve.
Her coach, Dave Flint, was not at all surprised by his goalie’s performance, “When I started coaching 29 years ago, a coach told me one time GAGG get a good goalie. That’s something I pride myself on when we recruit, we get the best goalies… Lisa proved tonight that she’s one of the best goalies in the NCAA”.
To get to the garden, Northeastern toppled 12th-ranked BC and BU knocked off Harvard in overtime.
The game began at breakneck speed with Northeastern carrying much of the play, BU goalie Callie Shanahan had to be sharp in the opening stages marking several point-blank saves.
Once BU settled into their game it became clear that the Terriers wanted to absorb the pressure of the quicker Huskies and catch Northeastern getting too far forward.
But it becomes increasingly difficult to play like that if you are trailing
They don’t ask how they just ask how many, and Lily Yovetich’s bouncing shot from the blue line caught a piece of a BU stick and bounced straight up into the air, dropping over the shoulder of Shanahan.
Dream start for the Huskies who hold an astounding 12-1 record when scoring first this season, yet are just 3-7-1 when their opponent scores first.
Jönsson would be sharp the rest of the period and hold off a handful of BU attacks and Northeastern would take a 1-0 lead after the opening 20.
Flint rolled the dice in this game dressing just 5 defensemen, a risky move in a high-profile game that ended up being highly physical.
Northeastern was collectively holding their breath when Jules Constantinople got upended behind her net, the defensemen labored back to the bench and left Flint scrambling.
“When that happened I went into panic mode… All I was thinking was god if she’s hurt now we’re down to 4 (defensemen) and we have half the game left.”
Against a short bench, BU pounced, but once again it was Jonsson who answered every question asked of her.
Constantinople would return shortly thereafter and the Huskies would take advantage.
Just 40 seconds after that, it was the Huskies again.
According to Jönsson, you could just wrap the game up right there, “unless they score on me early, I’m not gonna let in any pucks”.
Alright then.
Northeastern would tack on an empty netter to make it 4-0 and the coronation would be a complete, top top-to-bottom victory for the Huskies who outpaced a good BU team.
A mostly pro-Huskies crowd continued their support in a filled-out lower bowl as the Huskies captains reached for the Beanpot trophy for the 3rd year in a row.
Photo: Northeastern Athletics
I was thinking about how to encapsulate what this event has turned into and what it means as the on-ice product continues to be put at the forefront.
Then Lily Yovetich said this:
What am I going to add to that?
Nothing.
