Three Stars From Dominant Showings At Beanpot Semifinals

BOSTON — It was expected that Boston University and Boston College would take care of business Monday night and advance to the Dunkin’ Beanpot final.

While that did happen, not many would have predicted the fashion in which the two hockey powers picked apart their opponents.

BU and BC combined to outscore Harvard and Northeastern, respectively, by a combined 15-3 margin as the Terriers and Eagles displayed their might to earn resounding victories at TD Garden.

The offensive outbursts carried out by both BU and BC were spearheaded by some sensational individual performances. Here are three stars from the semifinal round of the Beanpot:

Cole Hutson, Boston University
The freshman defenseman put on a show in the first Beanpot game of his career. Hutson led all skaters from both contests with four points coming from two goals and two assists. He had a hand in the final five tallies for BU and even had an assist when his older brother, Quinn, scored early in the third period.

“I’m at my best when I play with a lot of confidence and started off the game pretty slow with a pretty selfish penalty,” Hutson said. “I owed it to the team (to) rise to the occasion a little bit.”

Ryan Leonard, Boston College
The highly touted Leonard churned out yet another three-point night with a goal and two assists. It is the third time in the last four games that Leonard has recorded three points. The best play of the contest from the No. 8 overall pick of the Washington Capitals in 2023 was when he showed off his stick handling 35 seconds into the second period, drew Northeastern’s defense in and made a perfect pass to a wide-open Lukas Gutsafsson for a goal.

Devin Kaplan, Boston University
The junior forward showed an excellent finishing touch as he notched two goals for the Terriers. He leveled the score against Harvard late in the first period and found the back of the net with just over a minute left in the second period to add to the commanding lead. Both goals were set up by Jack Hughes.

“I’ve been watching the Beanpot and the Terriers for as long as I can remember. So, these games really mean something to me,” Kaplan said. “When we get to this stage it’s pretty special and couldn’t be more grateful to play in an environment like this.”

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