Beanpot (ice hockey)

In 2020, a rule change was made dictating how any overtime periods were to be handled. Traditionally, a tied score after the end of regulation time would be followed by continuous sudden-death play, in 20-minute intervals. However, due to NCAA regulations governing the way tournament games are factored into pairwise calculation (the formula for determining post-season seeding), a standardized format was required for all mid-season tournaments across collegiate hockey. From 2020 on, all Beanpot games with a tied score after regulation would commence with a 5-minute overtime period, after which if there is no sudden-death score, the game shall be officially ruled a tie. Play may be continued after this 5-minute interval, but any statistics accrued will not be considered official, and the end result of which will be solely for the purpose of determining tournament placement.

The effects of this change were felt immediately, as two games went to the "2nd" overtime period in the 2020 iteration of the tournament. Boston College and Boston University played to a 4–4 tie after five minutes of overtime, and BU emerged victorious in the unofficial 2nd period. The same result and score occurred in that year's Championship match, as Northeastern and Boston University skated to a 4–4 tie after the initial overtime; the Huskies then defeated the Terriers to claim the title.

In 2022, the third instance of the new overtime format came to be, as Boston College and Harvard tied 3–3 after five minutes of overtime in the Consolation game. However, the game was not continued to determine a 3rd-place winner, due to time constraints for the playing of the Championship game. In years prior, it would have been necessary to continue play indefinitely, but given the now-unofficial status of doing so, it was deemed no longer prudent. The game was ruled the first - and potentially only - official tie in tournament history.

In 2023, the overtime rules were further amended to require the 5-minute overtime period to be played 3-on-3, rather than with the full 5-on-5 complement. Additionally, the rule was implemented that if matches ended in a tie after the 5-minute overtime, a three-round shootout would be used to determine the winner. The rule came into effect immediately in that year's title game, as Northeastern defeated Harvard 3–2 in a shootout to claim the Beanpot Championship.

In summary, only three tournament games have an unofficial, or special status. The BC-BU first round meeting and the Northeastern-BU championship from the 2020 tournament both played beyond the 5-minute overtime. As a result, BU and Northeastern each have 1 unofficial goal counted in tournament statistics. Craig Pantano's Eberly Award stat line also includes saves from the additional overtime period of the title game. The only other game with special status was the 2022 Consolation game between BC and Harvard, which simply ended a tie after a scoreless 5-minute overtime. Play was not continued, so no unofficial statistics were recorded. After the 2023 introduction of the shootout to determine a winner for all games, this will be the only official tie in tournament history.

Between 1966 and 2009, the Boston University Terriers historically dominated the Beanpot, winning 28 out of 43 titles. Owing to this phenomenon, fans have nicknamed the contest the "BU Invitational", an apt name as BU has made it to the title game 55 of 69 years (as of 2022), winning their most recent title in 2022. Despite historical dominance, recent years have been less successful for the Terriers, winning only twice out of eight championship appearances since 2009.

The beginning of BU's Beanpot dominance was also the first year on the ice for Jack Parker. Parker won titles in each of the three years he played for the Terriers, and after taking over as head coach in 1973–74, Parker won 21 more championships.

Boston College controlled the early years of the Beanpot, winning eight titles in the first thirteen tournaments. Following BU's dominance, the balance of power tipped back towards the Eagles for about a decade, when they won six titles in seven years between 2010 and 2016. During that stretch, BC won five consecutive titles from 2010 to 2014, losing out in the first round in 2015, and regaining the title in 2016. However, they have failed to secure a title in four consecutive seasons, and only once made the championship game during that time.

Harvard shared some success with Boston College in the early years of the tournament, winning four titles in the first 10 years, as well as making the title game each of the first four tournaments and winning the very first title game. However, they have only seen sporadic success since, winning 11 titles in the tournament's history, most recently ending a 24-year championship drought in 2017. They had only made the title game three times since their previous victory in 1993: '94, '98, and '08.

Wayne Turner and David Archambault with 1980 Beanpot

Northeastern, the only Beanpot team that has never won an NCAA hockey title, failed to win a Beanpot until 1980, when an overtime goal by Wayne Turner against Boston College gave the Huskies a win. Turner's wrist shot has often been called the most important goal in Northeastern history, and is generally considered the marquee sporting moment for the university. It is also known as the "Shot Heard Round the Beanpot".[8]

Northeastern won three more titles in the 1980s, but failed to capture the Beanpot for 30 years. The Huskies came close to winning their fifth title in 2005 when they rallied from a 2–0 goal deficit to tie BU, but fell in overtime when Chris Bourque scored the winning goal. They made it to championship game four times from 2011 to 2015 but fell each time, to Boston College in '11, '13, and '14 and to Boston University in '15.

Northeastern won their drought-breaking championship in 2018 with a dominating 5–2 victory over BU, in a rare year where the Huskies were the strongest team in the field, having come into the tournament ranked highest in the pairwise over the other three Beanpot schools. This would be the case again in 2019, where Northeastern again won the championship with a 4–2 victory over BC. In 2020, the Huskies would win their third straight championship against BU in double overtime, solidifying their legacy as a 21st-century Beanpot dynasty and effectively ending their reputation as the underdogs of the tournament. Before 2018, the Huskies had been to only 17 title games, and won only 4 of those. Earning three championships in a row from 2018 to 2020 proved their newfound parity with their other Beanpot schools, where they hoped to continue their success in the coming years. In 2022, Northeastern lost their three-year streak to BU after a long standoff in the three periods. In 2023, 16th-ranked Northeastern recaptured the Beanpot title by beating 9th ranked Harvard 3–2 in the tournament's first ever shootout, after overtime rules were amended that season. The title was the Huskies' 4th in a span of 5 straight tournament championship game appearances.

The 2016 Beanpot took place on February 1 and 8. The first round of the tournament saw Boston College defeat Harvard 3–2 and Boston University defeat Northeastern 3–1. Northeastern defeated Harvard 5–1 in the consolation game and, for the 22nd time in the history of the tournament, BC and BU competed for the Championship, with the Eagles winning a 1–0 overtime contest. This was BU's second consecutive title game and BC's first since winning five in a row from 2010 to 2014. Northeastern failed to make the title game for the first time since 2012, whereas Harvard had not been to the title game since 2008. The 1–0 Championship game was the first ever 1–0 result in the history of the tournament. The championship game was also the sixth of the previous eleven title games to go to overtime.

The 2017 Beanpot took place on February 6 and 13. The first round of the tournament saw Harvard defeat Northeastern 4–3 and Boston University defeat Boston College 3–1. Northeastern defeated Boston College 4–2 in the consolation game and Harvard and BU competed for the Championship, with the Crimson winning their 11th title and first since 1993 by a score of 6–3. This was BU's third consecutive title game and Harvard's first since 2008. Boston College's loss to Northeastern placed them 4th for the first time since 1993 and was only their seventh 4th-place finish in tournament history. Harvard's victory also marked the first non-BC or BU title since Harvard's 1993 victory, a 24- year span.

The 2018 Beanpot took place on February 5 and 12. The first round of the tournament saw Northeastern shutout Boston College 3–0 and BU defeat Harvard in double overtime, 3–2. Harvard defeated Boston College 5–4 in overtime of the consolation game and Northeastern met Boston University in the championship, with the Huskies ending their 30-year drought, winning their 5th title and first since 1988, by a score of 5–2. This was BU's fourth consecutive title game and Northeastern's first since going to three straight between 2013 and 2015. BC's loss to Harvard placed them 4th for the second consecutive year, an occurrence that only happened once before in tournament history between 1974 and 1975. The Huskies victory also marked a championship for each tournament school in consecutive years - BU in 2015, BC in 2016, Harvard in 2017, and Northeastern in 2018 - an occurrence that happened only once before between 1980 and 1983.

The 2019 Beanpot took place on February 4 and 11. The first round of the tournament saw Boston College defeat Harvard 2–1 and Northeastern defeat Boston University 2–1 in overtime. Harvard defeated Boston University 5–2 in the consolation game, and Northeastern defeated Boston College 4–2 in the Championship for their second straight title and 6th overall. This was the second time Northeastern has won back-to-back titles, the first time being in 1984–85. Boston College made their 36th appearance in the Championship, but failed to capture their 21st title. Boston University finished 4th for just the 7th time in tournament history, with 4 of these having come in the last decade (2011, '13, '14 & '19). Their previous 3 last-place finishes occurred in 1961, '63 & '80. Combined with Harvard's victory in 2017, this also marked the first time in tournament history that three straight tournaments were not won by BU or BC. Two straight seasons without a BU or BC title occurred three times, in '80-'81, '84-'85, and '88-'89.

The 2020 Beanpot took place on February 3 and 10. The first round of the tournament saw Northeastern defeat Harvard 3–1 and Boston University defeat Boston College 5–4 in double overtime.^* Boston College defeated Harvard 7–2 in the consolation game, and Northeastern defeated Boston University 5–4 in double overtime^* of the Championship for their third straight title and 7th overall. This was the first time in tournament history Northeastern won three straight titles. Boston University made their 54th title appearance, but failed to capture their 31st title. This year's result ties the second longest title drought for BU, having not won since 2015. They previously had a 5-year drought between 2010 and 2014 – when BC won five straight championships – however, their 7-year span during 1959-65 is the most years in a row the Terriers went without the Beanpot title.

New NCAA rules put in place in 2020 meant all tournament games would have a new overtime format, in which a single 5-minute period would be played and then, if still scoreless, continual overtime with 20-minute periods would be played to determine tournament placement. If no score is reached before the 5-minute period ends, the game is considered a tie and all statistics recorded in the additional overtime periods are not counted. This was put in place to standardize tournament results (across the NCAA, not just the Beanpot) for use with the pairwise ranking system, which determines NCAA tournament seeding.

The Northeastern Huskies have the most Women's Beanpot wins out of the four teams with 17. Out of the first 13 tournaments, they took home 10 championships, with an eight-win streak from 1984 to 1991.[14] They most recently won the title in 2023, winning 2–1 against BC and sweeping both men's and women's tournaments for the Huskies.[17]

Harvard won their first Women's Beanpot title at the 4th tournament in 1982, defeating BU 2–1. From the first tournament in 1979 to 1993, Harvard advanced to the championship game 11 out of 15 times and won 4. Since the women's tournament started, 18 of the 43 championship games have been between Harvard and Northeastern. Of those, Harvard has won 7 and Northeastern has won 11. Harvard Crimson's most recently win was in 2022, defeating BC 5-4 and bringing their win total to 15.[14]

Boston College's first two women's championships did not come until the 2006 and 2007 Beanpots, winning back-to-back years against Harvard and BU, respectively.[14] Since 2007, the BC Eagles have advanced to the championship round in 8 tournaments and won 6 more titles. BC has won the Beanpot 8 total times, with their most recent win coming in 2018.[14] The 4–3 overtime win against BU finalized a three-win streak.[18]

BU Terriers have the fewest wins of the usual women's Beanpot teams at 2. Their first title came in 1981 against BC, and their second nearly four decades later in 2019 against Harvard.[14] With their first win, BU defeated BC 4–0, winning the Beanpot while still playing as a club team.[16] Their 3–2 overtime win against Harvard marked their first tournament win playing as a varsity team.[19]

Brown University competed in and won their only Women's Beanpot in 1993, replacing Boston University.[20] Brown defeated Harvard in the championship game, winning 2–1.[14]

This is a list of all occasions where a Beanpot team has won at least two consecutive championships between years. The current winning streak, if any, is highlighted in chartreuse  . Winning streaks with equal numbers of wins are sorted chronologically, with earlier streaks appearing first.

The longest current championship win streak belongs to Boston University, who won six consecutive Beanpots between 1995 and 2000. As of 2022, Harvard is the only team to never win consecutive titles.