BOSTON – It will once again be a battle of Commonwealth Avenue in the 2010 Beanpot Championship game next Monday night at TD Garden.Both Boston College and Boston University breezed to their seemingly inevitable date on the second Monday in February thanks to wins over Harvard and Northeastern.The Eagles (14-8-2), the only team with a winning record entering the tournament, basically had their way with the Crimson from the get-go in rolling to a 6-0 win.BU, on the other hand, had to sweat out its 2-1 win over the Huskies thanks to NU freshman goalie Chris Rawlings, who stonewalled the Terriers most of the night.It was scoreless until near the midpoint of the second when BU’s Colby Cohen dented the scoreboard first.BU had to survive a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage midway through the third after having failed to convert on a 5:00 major early in the period. The Terriers nearly got through it before Northeastern’s Kyle Kraemer tied the game.There it stayed until late in the third when freshman Alex Chiasson’s shot trickled past Rawlings to give BU its razor-thin margin. Northeastern would threaten late, having a 6-on-4 power play in the final minute, but Kieran Millan’s glove save preserved the victory.BC got all the offense it needed in the first when Ben Smith scored on a power play, assisted by Brian Gibbons and Joe Whitney, at 5:54. The rest of the period belonged to BC goalie John Muse, who was able to keep Harvard quiet despite facing some challenging shots.”Johnny was very good in the net for us,” BC coach Jerry York said.The Eagles added to the lead in the opening second of the middle period when Matt Price picked up a 4-on-4 marker at the :18 mark. BC kept pouring the shots on the Crimson net and struck again just short of the midpoint when fourth-line freshman Pat Mullane upped the gap to 3-0 after two.”Credit to BC, they were clearly the better team (Monday),” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “They used their speed to force us into taking some bad penalties.”The Eagles turned the gas on in the third, blowing Harvard right out of the building.Freshman Chris Kreider, a familiar name to Lynnfield hockey fans who saw him star at Masconomet before a stellar career at Phillips Andover Academy, increased the gap to 4-0 and left little doubt which team was on its way to the finals.Gibbons and Carl Sneep would add goals late in the third to salt away a sweet win for the Eagles.”We certainly feel excited as a team and as a coaching staff to be playing for the Beanpot next Monday,” York said.
