Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston College Eagles baseball team might not have been in a position to win the 2013 Beanpot, but they did the next best thing: win the consolation game.

At Fenway Park on Tuesday afternoon, the Eagles defeated the Harvard Crimson, 7-2, to take third place in this year’s tournament. Boston College is in the midst of one of its best stretches of the season, now winning three of their last four games and improving their overall record to 9-35. Harvard drops to 10-31 with the loss.

The Eagles appeared to never be in danger of falling, taking a 1-0 lead from the outset in the top of the first inning and leading the entire way. Boston College, playing as the road team this time, totaled seven runs and nine hits; they also committed no errors, a major improvement from the six they had in their walk-off win over Miami on Sunday afternoon.

Freshman Joe Cronin led the way for the Eagles, knocking three hits and scoring a run. BC also got a multi-hit game out of junior John Hennessy, who went 2-for-5. Junior pitcher Steve Green took the victory for Boston College after five innings of one-run ball. Matt Timoney lost for Harvard.

The Eagles have just eight games remaining in their 2013 season. Next up for BC is a trip to Kingston, Rhode Island tomorrow to face the Rhode Island Rams.

The 2013 Baseball Beanpot gets underway at Fenway Park this afternoon. The first game of the doubleheader features the Boston College Eagles and the Harvard Crimson; in the second contest, the Northeastern Huskies will face the Massachusetts Minutemen. BC’s game is the consolation game, while Northeastern and UMass will play for the title.

Regardless of the fact that Boston College is not in the Beanpot championship game, this year’s tournament finals at Fenway will support a special BC cause. Net proceeds from the ticket sales on Monday will benefit the Pete Frates #3 Fund.

Frates, a former Boston College Eagles baseball player who graduated six years ago, has become one of the leading faces of the drive for ALS research since his diagnosis.

The Boston College half of the doubleheader begins at 2pm ET and tickets cost $10. Tickets may be purchased through the Boston Red Sox.

It’s definitely “trophy season” now.

The #4 Boston College Eagles hockey team, having suffered through a bad January, is officially back on track. In the championship game of the 61st Beanpot at the TD Garden on Monday night, the Eagles defeated the Northeastern Huskies, 6-3. BC has now won its fourth-straight Beanpot title, meaning that the current senior class has never lost a game in this local tournament and never will. For Northeastern, their drought will reach at least 26 years as they still have not won since 1988.

The Eagles, now winners of three games in a row for the first time since November, are 17-7-2 on the season and are quickly recovering momentum they lost in the previous month.

To start the game, neither team scored though there were abundant opportunities, particularly those for Boston College. In spite of BC outshooting Northeastern, 10-5, the first period ended in a 0-0 tie.

As a matter of fact, much of the second was scoreless, though the Eagles made a habit of creating loud clanking sounds off of the crossbar. Those near-misses soon became goals for Boston College in the second period, and when BC started getting them, they came in bunches. Bill Arnold, the hero of the 2012 Beanpot in overtime, got the party started at 10:53 by making it a 1-0 BC lead (assists Hayes, Whitney). The floodgates opened just one minute, fifteen seconds later as Johnny Gaudreau tipped in an unassisted goal to double the lead to 2-0.

Northeastern did not want to be left out of the action. Kevin Roy, eventually the tournament MVP, halved BC’s lead to 2-1 at 15:04 (assists Saponari, Lauwers). They’d pay for that, however: Boston College hit back with two more goals in the second period thanks to Patrick Brown (18:37; MacLeod, Smith) and Steven Whitney (19:59; Arnold) right before time expired.

The Huskies put a scare into BC to start the third, notching two quick goals: Kevin Roy just 11 seconds into the period (assists Vermeersch, Saponari) and 3:45 later thanks to Braden Pimm on the power play (assists Vermeersch, Saponari). From then on, the game was tense for the Boston College faithful who wanted badly to see their team win for a fourth-consecutive year — that is, until Johnny Gaudreau made his presence felt once again. With 5:23 left in the game, Gaudreau’s second score of the night put the contest out of reach for the Huskies (assists Matheson, Whitney). To cap off the action, captain Pat Mullane scored a power-play empty-netter at 18:32 to make the margin a comfortable 6-3 (assists Gaudreau, Milner).

It’s a good night for Boston College when you’re winning trophies and your goalie, who was named best goaltender in tournament, is getting assists. The Eagles played a very good game overall and have finally started once again to establish consistency. This tournament victory will help them going forward, and even from the perspective of an outsider, one would have to marvel at how BC can always find another gear at this time of the season, no matter how forgettable the middle of the year was. There is much to be decided in the months to come and anything can happen, but this is a movie we’ve seen before, and it typically has a happy ending for BC.

The Boston College senior class is to be congratulated once more for being a perfect 4-for-4 in Beanpot tournaments, but team efforts have gotten them this far, and team efforts will eventually get BC to the promised land again.

The Eagles return to the ice on Friday night in North Andover, MA against Merrimack in a Hockey East conference game.

Twice in the previous two years, the Boston College Eagles men’s hockey team has been in the position of having to defend its Beanpot title. Now, for the third-straight season, the Eagles enter the Beanpot championship contest as the defending champions, and BC looks to run its streak to four. This time, as it was several years ago, their opponents are the Northeastern Huskies.

The BC hockey senior class is on an incredible run when it comes to these games at the TD Garden. As a matter of fact, when it comes to the Beanpot and the Hockey East Tournament, the current senior class hasn’t lost a single one of those games on Garden ice. In March, the Eagles will look to make it four consecutive Hockey East titles, but for now, their focus will be the Beanpot.

Boston College and Northeastern have recent history, both in the 2012-13 regular season and in earlier Beanpots. In the 59th Beanpot (2011), BC defeated Northeastern 7-6 in overtime after Jimmy Hayes knocked the game-winner into the net. During the regular season, the Eagles and Huskies have met three times, with BC dropping the season opener, winning the next one, and then winning a blowout in the third. The most recent meeting between them was on January 19 when BC won at Northeastern, 9-3.

When these two have met in the finals, BC is 2-1 — it goes without saying that their encountering one another in this title game is rare, mostly because Northeastern hardly ever finds itself in it. They did beat Boston University last week for the first time in 25 years in the Beanpot, with 25 years being precisely how long it’s been since the Huskies have won the whole thing. Northeastern beat BC in the semifinals to get to that 1988 title game, so they’re hoping they can repeat history in reverse in 2013.

As for Boston College, they have plenty of Hockey East history with the Huskies, some of which is quite recent. The last time they met, to say BC was on top of its game offensively would be an understatement. The Eagles know that Northeastern can beat them, since they did back in October, but that was a very long time ago and both squads have gone in different directions. BC has seemingly rebounded from another bad January slump to retain its top spot in Hockey East, while Northeastern has sunk into last place. Ironically enough, both of the Huskies’ last two wins were against BU; they’ve not beaten a team aside from the Terriers since December 29.

This is a game BC should expect to win. They’ve had some extra time off thanks to the blizzard, they should be fresh, and frankly, they are a better team. It’s nice to win this tournament as a status symbol, but it’s more important for the Eagles to build momentum heading into the trophy season. It has been months since BC strung three wins together, and if they can do it tonight, they’ll have everyone believing that the Eagles are moving in the right direction once again.

The puck is expected to drop at 7:30pm on NESN.

Boston College hockey knows what time of year it is and are responding accordingly. On Monday evening in the second Beanpot semifinal at the TD Garden, the Eagles defeated the Harvard Crimson, 4-1.

The Eagles will face the Northeastern Huskies next Monday at 7:30pm in the title game of the 61st Beanpot Championship. Earlier on Monday, Northeastern claimed a 3-2 victory over the Boston University Terriers.

With the victory, BC improves to 16-7-2 on the season and has now won consecutive games for the first time since late November. Boston College has now also won eight consecutive games in the Beanpot dating back to the 2009 consolation game.

The Eagles did not have a shot on goal for approximately the first nine minutes of the game, though Harvard hardly generated much offensive pressure themselves during that stretch. Thereafter, Boston College completely dominated the contest. On their first power play, despite not having scored, BC managed six shots on goal and kept the puck in their offensive zone for nearly the entire advantage; from there, the Eagles were off to the races.

Sophomore Quinn Smith was first to get BC on the scoreboard with a very late goal in the opening period; his goal came at 19:31 and made the score 1-0 Eagles heading into the intermission (assists Wey, Dyroff). Boston College enjoyed scoring at the end of periods so much, they did it twice in the second period: Quinn Smith again at 18:18 (assists Arnold, MacLeod) and Mike Matheson seven seconds into a power play at 19:09 (assists Doherty, Mullane).

Harvard captain Danny Biega got the Crimson on the board at 9:17 of the third on a goal (assists Fick, Greiner), but BC got it back at 14:58 of the final frame with a terrific unassisted goal by Steven Whitney. That goal for Whitney was his 17th of the year, setting a new personal BC high-water mark.

Offensively, Harvard was no match for Boston College and that much became evident as the game progressed. Final shots on-goal were an astounding 46-20 in favor of the Eagles, which is even more impressive considering that they went almost half of the first period without any. On man-advantages, the Crimson were out of their depth. Harvard entered the Beanpot with disastrous power play and penalty kill percentages, which got worse against BC on Monday: the Crimson went 0-for-3 on the power play, and went just 1-for-2 on the kill. That does not tell the whole story, however: BC had numerous shorthanded chances on Harvard’s power play, while Harvard struggled to even keep the puck in the zone, and the Eagles looked very strong on their man-advantages.

This was a take-care-of-business win for the Eagles who are now legitimately starting to build some momentum for the first time in months. Before they can face Northeastern for a potential fourth-straight championship, Boston College will host Jerry York Night at Conte Forum on Friday against UMass-Lowell.

What would you say if I told you that Boston College hockey, the defending national champions and three-time defending Hockey East champions, had not won consecutive games since November?

No matter one’s reaction — probably profound despair on the part of Eagles fans — that statement is factually accurate.

The Eagles can break that spell and get back-to-back wins on Monday night at the TD Garden during a little tournament that Boston folk like to call the Beanpot. You may have heard of it. This time, their draw handed them a semifinal matchup with the Harvard Crimson. The two schools did not face each other in non-conference play this year away from this tournament.

Even though Boston College has not made the previous two months pretty in any way, shape, or form, their season has gone in a completely different direction from that of Harvard. For whatever faults they’ve had since blowing Jerry York’s 925th win in Providence, they’re still 15-7-2 and a serious threat to win the whole thing in April. The Crimson, on the other hand, have had a terrible season to date. Harvard is 5-14-1 and are presently on a seven-game losing streak. Their last victory was on January 9, ironically enough at Boston University, another Beanpot participant and hated Commonwealth Avenue rivals of BC. Now there’s a team with issues winning consecutive games.

In 20 games to this point, Harvard averages just over two goals per game and allows about three and a third. One standout statistic for the Crimson is their penalty kill, which stands at a poor 77.6% for the season. When they benefit from the man-advantage, they’ve scored just eight goals all season for a 10.1% conversion rate. Thing is, Harvard doesn’t take or go on an obscene number of penalties. Several days ago, BC played a Vermont team that rated last in Hockey East in the penalty kill and does go shorthanded often, and BC still did not net a power play goal. In games like this, if BC gets their chance, they’re going to have to take advantage of it, though it seems the Crimson give up plenty of even-strength goals as well.

The issue of Boston College’s consistency is still unresolved. It has not been uncommon in the last two months for BC to get a win and look good doing it, then fall to an inferior team and dredge up all the questions about what’s wrong with them. The scenario is then familiar, because Harvard is a far inferior team on paper, and BC did look good in wiping Vermont away on Friday. Winning this game is about more than the pride associated with advancing to the Beanpot finals with a chance to win their fourth title in a row: it’s about sustaining momentum. If Boston College can take care of business against Harvard and start becoming consistent, this could be the start of a very good month.

The puck will drop on NESN at approximately 8pm in the second of two semifinals. Jerry York will be inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame in between contests.

Fans expected a tight contest; they got an instant classic.

On Monday night at the TD Garden in Boston, the #3 Boston College Eagles defeated the #2 Boston University Terriers to win the 60th Beanpot, 3-2 in overtime. BC’s 2012 title marks their third in a row and fourth in five years. Also importantly, Boston College is on a five-game win streak, bringing their record up to 19-10-1.

The Eagles netted the first goal of the game thanks to Pat Mullane at 8:54 of the opening period. Quinn Smith went to the penalty box for boarding, but being shorthanded was no problem for BC, as Mullane wound up his shot and blasted it past Kieran Millan to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead (Kreider assisted). BC would go on to have a number of prime opportunities to score for the remainder of the period, but they were unable to do so.

The next score was not until the second period, but in between goals, nine penalties were assessed to the two teams. It was Paul Carey’s hit from behind, however, that set up the equalizer. At 15:11, Garrett Noonan converted on the power play to tie the game for the Terriers at 1-1 (Nieto and Chiasson assisted). The tie was short-lived, as a few minutes later BU’s Sean Escobedo was rung up for a cross-check, and Chris Kreider did what he tends to do: score goals in Beanpot games. Kreider got on the board on the man-advantage to put BC back in front, 2-1, at 18:42 (Gaudreau assisted).

The third period did not feature as many penalties overall, but there were two critical ones. Steven Whitney went to the box for a high stick, and then 13 seconds later, Paul Carey was called for boarding (and Eagles fans were none too pleased). It took the Terriers about a minute after that to re-tie the game at 2-2, and once again, it was Garrett Noonan who leveled the score on the two-man advantage power play (Clendening and Chiasson assisted).

Shots were blasted by both teams as regulation neared a close, but both Millan and Parker Milner held their ground, and both defenses hustled to disrupt the other team’s puck movement. That could only lead to one thing: overtime.

For over 19 minutes of overtime, both teams had serious scoring chances while the referees swallowed their whistles and let the kids play. In one particular opportunity, a Boston College shot rang off the post, but on many others, Millan made tough save after tough save. Milner, for his part, stood up to a strong Boston University offensive attack and made some good saves of his own.

Just when it looked like the game was about to go to an unprecedented second overtime, the Eagles were able to take control of the puck in neutral ice for one last go. Steven Whitney and Barry Almeida set Bill Arnold up for a shot, which flew past Millan at 19:53 to give the Eagles a 3-2 overtime win.

Following the game, freshman phenom John Gaudreau was named tournament MVP.

The 2012 Beanpot final was a tremendous battle of wills; both teams left it all out on the ice and played exceptionally hard. One could tell just how much winning meant to them, and they played like it. The result was highly favorable, but in all fairness, give kudos to Boston University as they played an excellent hockey game; in particular, commend Kieran Millan, the Eberly Award winner, who stood up to BC’s offense 44 times.

The contest was intense, physical, and hard-fought, and featured a great atmosphere; thumbs-up to the Eagles fans who made their way to the Garden and were fired up from start to finish.

The Beanpot Trophy will remain at Boston College for another year, and this title may yet help propel them to greater things. There is still much work to be done in this regular season, however, and BC hockey will get back to business on Friday night against Merrimack.

The 60th Beanpot will be played tonight at the TD Garden, and all of Boston College will watch in anticipation, hoping that the Eagles take home their fourth title in five years.

Boston College and Boston University have plenty of history throughout the Hockey East season, but enough in this brief tournament to go around as well. In total, the Eagles and Terriers have faced each other in the big showdown 20 times before tonight, and this is how they went:

BC vs. BU: Beanpot Finals History

1957: Boston College 5, Boston University 4 (OT)
1959: Boston College 7, Boston University 4
1964: Boston College 6, Boston University 5
1965: Boston College 5, Boston University 4
1970: Boston University 5, Boston College 4
1973: Boston University 4, Boston College 1
1976: Boston College 6, Boston University 3
1979: Boston University 4, Boston College 3
1982: Boston University 3, Boston College 1
1986: Boston University 4, Boston College 1
1991: Boston University 8, Boston College 4
1995: Boston University 5, Boston College 1
1997: Boston University 4, Boston College 2
2000: Boston University 4, Boston College 1
2001: Boston College 5, Boston University 3
2003: Boston University 3, Boston College 2
2004: Boston College 2, Boston University 1 (OT)
2006: Boston University 3, Boston College 2
2007: Boston University 2, Boston College 1 (OT)
2010: Boston College 4, Boston University 3

Details

• 20 previous meetings
• Boston University leads, 12-8
• 3 overtime games; two in the last decade
• Half (10) were decided by one goal
• If BC wins tonight, it would be the first time since 1965 that the Eagles won consecutive Beanpot final meetings between these two teams

Melina Vastola-US PRESSWIRE

At Conte Forum tonight, the Boston College Eagles men’s basketball team will try to stop their six-game losing streak against the #15 Florida State Seminoles. FSU has won seven consecutive games and if they defeat BC tonight, it will officially be the Eagles’ worst losing streak in about a decade, give or take a year.

Florida State is not #15 for nothing. They’re very good at rebounding and also do quite well at scoring, but during this win streak they’re on, they’ve beaten three ranked teams: #3 UNC, #4 Duke, and #18 Virginia. They’ve come a long way since their triple-overtime loss to Princeton on December 30, that’s for sure.

As for the Eagles, they hung in there at Georgia Tech, but let’s be honest: neither team on the court that day played well, but the Yellow Jackets just happened to play less poorly. They only managed 47 points in their defeat, and it was the latest in a line of stunningly-low point totals for the Eagles. Over the course of their six-game losing streak, BC has averaged only 53.2 points per game, and that has dropped their season average below 60. The last time they scored 70 points in a game was in double-ovetime against Rhode Island; the last time they scored 70 in regulation was against Sacred Heart in December.

At running the risk of stating the obvious, it’s going to be hard for BC to win games when they can’t crack 60 points, and tonight is no different. Gametime is 7pm on ESPN3.

Not surprisingly, Luke Kuechly was invited to the NFL Combine yesterday; Donnie Fletcher and Max Holloway were not. Holloway is not much of a shock, but Fletcher does seem to be. Fletcher reportedly practiced well at the Senior Bowl but did not have a good game, and his draft stock appears to have taken a dive as a result.

Before all of that happened, if you asked me, Fletcher looked like a 5th-round pick. Now, who knows. There is still plenty of time for him to prove his worth to teams, but not having the Combine hurts.

The #6 women’s hockey team won their Beanpot consolation game on Tuesday night, beating #8 Harvard 4-2. Goaltender Corinne Boyles stopped 33 Crimson shots to get the victory.

The Eagles lost their first-round game in a shootout against Northeastern, and in their most recent game, BC was stomped by Providence, so they have gotten back on the winning track. BC’s upcoming weekend will feature a home-and-home series against UConn.

At the TD Garden, the #5 Boston College Eagles men’s hockey team were victorious in their 60th Beanpot semifinal, taking out the Northeastern Huskies, 7-1. Though it does not count in the Hockey East standings, the Eagles picked up their 17th win of the season and have won three in a row with Parker Milner in net.

The scoring began early thanks to Paul Carey, beating Chris Rawlings at 5:14 in the first to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead (Gaudreau and Mullane assisted). Milner made a nice save down at the other end a few moments later, but then, when the puck was in BC’s offensive zone, a Northeastern player whiffed on the puck in front of his own net, allowing Johnny Gaudreau to snatch it and score his tenth goal of the season, doubling BC’s lead at 2-0 (9:43; unassisted).

Two penalties came against the Eagles in succession, however, and that 5-on-3 resulted in the Huskies’ only score of the night. Anthony Bitetto notched his fourth goal of the season on the two-man advantage at 12:34, cutting BC’s lead in half (Karlsson and Vermeersch assisted).

Now, Boston College’s penalty kill has been very good all year, but in the second period, it was deadly, and that turned the tide well in favor of the Eagles. Chris Kreider went to the penalty box on a hit from behind, but Steven Whitney punished Northeastern with a shorthanded goal at 6:51, increasing BC’s lead to 3-1 (Almeida and Alber assisted). Northeastern’s power play expired otherwise uneventfully, but BC was far from done in the period, as Gaudreau scored his second goal of the game at 8:58 after being set up by a good pass, allowing the Eagles to move ahead 4-1 (Alber and Mullane assisted).

Gaudreau would not be BC’s only two-goal scorer. In fact, he went to the penalty box for tripping, but again, Steven Whitney came up huge with his second shorthanded goal of the period at 13:11, pushing the Eagles ahead 5-1 and signaling to Northeastern that a consolation game awaits them (unassisted).

In the third, Northeastern also did very, very little of note, but that could hardly be said for the Eagles. Evidently not content with a 5-1 lead, Boston College scored twice to close it out: Barry Almeida’s 17th of the season at 8:47 (Dumoulin and Whitney assisted) and Paul Carey’s 9th of the season and second of the game at 17:20 (MacLeod and Shea assisted). Both scores were on power plays, and the last one ensured that three Eagles — Whitney, Gaudreau, and Carey — had multi-goal games.

The pressure on Rawlings and his third-period replacement, Clay Witt, as opposed to Milner can’t be compared. The Eagles outshot the Huskies 2:1, taking an impressive 46 shots on goal while Northeastern only managed 23, and their only score was on a two-man advantage. Boston College’s penalty kill was very solid, stopping Northeastern four of five times and notching two shorthanded goals; their power play, on the other hand, was very good as well, converting on two of their four attempts, both in the third period.

The Eagles had opportunities to score even more throughout the game, but several point-blank chances passed them by. Had they not, BC easily could have put nine goals on the board, but a 7-1 victory is hardly a bad thing.

There was some concern a few weeks ago over how this hockey team was playing. After all, they were 2-5-1 over an eight-game stretch dating back until December, and they did not open 2012 particularly well. As a general rule, however, wait until this team hits February, the Beanpot, and “Trophy Season.” If the Eagles are going to make a run, it will start at around this time of year, and so far, so good. BC has won three in a row and played their best hockey game in a long time on Monday night, putting together a dominant effort from start to finish. There is no telling where this ride will end, but if BC keeps getting hotter now, it could lead to better things next month.

As for this tournament, the next opponents are those other guys down Commonwealth Avenue. BU defeated Harvard, 3-1, in the first seminfinal to set up an intense title game at 7:30pm next Monday. Boston College’s next game, which does count in Hockey East, is on Friday night in Burlington as they take on the Vermont Catamounts, a game which will be on NBC Sports Network.