It’s BC-Northeastern in Beanpot final

BOSTON – The 2011 Beanpot championship will head to either Huntington or Commonwealth Avenue come next Monday night.The Northeastern Huskies made sure of that fact.The Huskies exploded for three second-period goals against Harvard in the first semifinal on Monday night at TD Garden and punched a ticket to the final for the second time in three years via a 4-0 win over the Crimson.Their opponent in the finals next Monday will be top-ranked Boston College as the Eagles got a goal 3:17 into overtime from Tommy Cross on a power play to take a 3-2 win over Boston University.Northeastern didn’t have its top offensive game on Monday night, but it was enough for the Huskies to overwhelm a hapless Harvard team that has now won only two games since November.”Our offense was really sloppy,” Northeastern coach Greg Cronin said. “At moments we looked good, but our defense was good.”Both teams played at a frantic pace in the first 20 minutes as the Huskies picked up the only goal at 10:48 when third-line center Mike McLaughlin fired home a shot after Harvard’s Alex Fallstrom couldn’t convert on an open net for the Crimson at the other end of the rink.McLaughlin would strike again early in the second, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead on a fluke bounce that saw goaltender Ryan Carroll get a stick on his shot but have it bounce in the air and land just across the goal line.That proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s proverbial back as Steve Silva scored at 10:53 and Brodie Reid added a power play goal with 3:41 left in the second.Neither team could dent the scoreboard in the third as the Huskies cruised home.The nightcap between the No. 1 ranked Eagles and No. 5 ranked Terriers was entertaining from the get-go. BC cracked the ice first with 5:23 left in the first on Philip Samuelsson’s goal off a drive from the left wing boards.The Terriers responded only 38 seconds later as Wade Megan finished off a rebound to send the teams to the first intermission in a 1-1 tie.The middle period was like a track meet as both teams swarmed around goaltenders John Muse of BC and Kieran Millan of the Terriers. The only damage came at 2:16 as Corey Trivino scored from the high slot.Late in the second, BC looked to have the game-tying goal but video review was inconclusive on the play. The Eagles wouldn’t wait long to get a goal in the third though as Jimmy Hayes snapped a shot over Millan’s glove from the top of the left circle to tie the game at 2-2.Millan kept the game tied late in regulation with a remarkable save on Samuelsson’s breakaway chance in the final minute.In the extra session, the Eagles got a man advantage when Ryan Reikka was called for cross-checking and didn’t wait long to strike as Cross snapped a shot from the blue line past a screened Millan for the winner.