Beanpot Preview: How No. 13 Boston College Men's Hockey and Harvard Match up
In a little over 24 hours, No. 13 Boston College men’s hockey and Harvard will square off in the first round of the 73rd edition of The Beanpot, the annual hockey tournament between BC, Harvard, Northeastern, and Boston University, at TD Garden.
The Beanpot was first played in 1952 at the old Boston Arena before the beloved tournament for Boston’s ultimate college hockey bragging rights moved to the Garden the following year.
BC holds the second-most Beanpot titles (20) all-time behind BU (31), the defending champions, but the Eagles have not captured a Beanpot Championship since 2016, which is the longest drought of the four schools.
Harvard owns the third-most Beanpot titles (11) and last won in 2017, while Northeastern, which last won in 2024, has eight Beanpot titles, the lowest among the group.
In 2025, BC fell to its Commonwealth-Avenue rival, the Terriers, 4-1 in the Championship after demolishing the Huskies, 8-2, in the first round.
Coming off a series sweep over New Hampshire last weekend and a road triumph over BU on Friday, the Eagles (14-8-1, 10-5-0 Hockey East) will look to continue their win streak of three with Monday’s matchup against the Crimson (12-8-1, 10-5-0 ECAC).
BC is currently the only ranked team of the four heading into the tournament.
Here is a preview of the first-round matchup.
Game Details:
Who: Boston College Eagles and Harvard Crimson
When: Monday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Radio: WEEI 850 AM
All-time series: Boston College leads the all-time series, 75-50-7.
Last 10 matchups: The Eagles are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games against Harvard and have a three-game win streak brewing.
Opponent Preview:
The Crimson started its 2025-26 campaign with a 6-1-1 record but have not played as consistently since that point, going 7-7 over the last 14 games coming into Monday’s affair with the Eagles.
Sophomore forward Mick Thomspon, a 5-foot-9, 177-pound Mississauga, Ont., native, leads Harvard in points with 23 (7 goals, 16 assists), followed by senior forward Philip Tresca with 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists), and senior forward Casey Severo with 14 (8 goals, 6 assists).
Hailing from Aurora, Ont., sophomore goaltender Ben Charette (6-foot-3, 180 lbs.) has made all 21 starts in net for the Crimson. Charette has surrendered 55 goals this season (2.65 AVG) with a save percentage of .909.
Harvard has scored a conference-low three power play goals this season in ECAC play, good for a 15.9 percent power-play rate. It has the highest penalty kill percentage in the league, however, at 92.1 percent.
Thompson is the only Crimson player to rank in the top-10 in points per game in the ECAC at a clip of 1.13 PPG.
Outlook:
Suffering a series sweep to Providence on the weekend of Jan. 16-17 was a demoralizing pair of losses for BC, but seems as though it has served as a wake-up call for the players.
Since those losses to the Friars, who have turned out to be the top squad in Hockey East at this juncture of the season with an overall record of 16-7-2 and a conference record of 11-3-1, the Eagles have won three straight and outscored their opponents 12-3 in that stretch.
BC currently sits in sole second place in Hockey East with a 10-5-0 record — UConn (15-7-3, 9-5-1) is third and BU (12-13-1, 8-10-0) is fourth — and is beginning to find a steady rhythm with its current offensive pairings, which head coach Greg Brown has altered often this season.
Dean Letourneau’s breakout this year has also been a key factor in the Eagles’ success.
After posting just three total points as a rookie last year, the sophomore forward, who centers BC’s first line with Jake Sondreal and Will Vote, is now tied with classmate James Hagens for the team lead in points at 25 (14 goals, 11 assists).
Letourneau’s chemistry with Hagens on the power play has been a spectacle to watch, and the tandem of Boston Bruins’ first-round draft picks showcased that connection in Friday’s defeat of the Terriers with a goal and an assist each.
That includes a perfectly-executed, 2-on-1 goal, with Letourneau on the assist and Hagens with the one-timer finish, that put BC ahead, 2-0, in the second frame of the matchup.
Sound up 🔊
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) January 31, 2026
💻 NESN pic.twitter.com/jEjhTStvd4
In addition to Letourneau’s prowess and Hagens’ consistent output, freshman goalie Louka Cloutier has picked up the reins from former goalie and two-time Hockey East goaltender of the Year Jacob Fowler with a composure that is beyond his years.
Cloutier boasts a save percentage of .916 and a goals against average of 2.16 in 20 games played this season, and his conference record of 10-4-0 is the best win percentage of any goalie in Hockey East.
This is all to say the Eagles are in a fantastic position with a prime opportunity to end the drought and capture Beanpot glory for the first time in exactly a decade. There is not a team that is stronger in terms of overall talent — possibly besides BU — level of current play, and consistency out of the four programs than BC.
First-round prediction:
Boston College 4, Harvard 1.
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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