BOSTON — Students were still unloading the T when the first roar from Boston University’s student section shook TD Garden.

Quickly thereafter, the insulting chants that define the long-standing rivalry—a rivalry in its 300th game—rained down from behind the 18 Celtics banners that hang in the rafters.

That didn’t seem to faze No. 14 Boston College men’s hockey, though, which had its eyes set on a prize it hadn’t hoisted in a decade. A lot more than words would have to keep the Eagles from bringing home that long-awaited hardware. 

Thirteen minutes after BU’s first score, the Dog Pound was treated with a taste of its own medicine from BC’s student section, and it was never able to give it back. 

The Eagles’ (16–9–1, 10–6–0 Hockey East) offense came to play on the big stage as they delivered the Heights’ first Beanpot title since 2016 with a 6–2 win over BU (13–14–2, 9–10–0) on Monday night.

BC goaltender Louka Cloutier received the Eberly Award for the Beanpot’s best goalie after posting 27 saves on 29 shots in the final, and James Hagens earned MVP honors with five points and a plus-minus of four across both games. 

“You need so many things to go right—you need so many guys to play well, and tonight, we were able to do that,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Really just happy for the guys that felt like they didn’t cross that line the last couple of years, and tonight they did.”

Cloutier was challenged much sooner than he was in the Eagles’ 4–1 win at Agganis Arena less than two weeks ago. 

Brandon Svoboda quickly got his team going, cleaning up an errant rebound from Cloutier 2:15 into the first period to put BU ahead 1–0.

The Terriers continued to hammer BC’s defense with their zone entry, setting up their offense early and often. Cloutier stood his ground, but a couple more rebounds fed into center ice left plenty of Eagles’ fans holding their breath.

BC struggled to sustain offensive possession when getting the puck below the blue line, falling behind in shots 8–2 near the halfway mark of the first period.

“We maybe were a little tight the first 10 minutes,” Brown said. “I didn’t love the way we started—our legs were a little slow.”

A holding penalty on BU’s Cole Hutson began the momentum shift. Ryan Conmy drove wide on the right side, drawing defenders near the goal line. He found an open Andre Gasseau in front of the net, and the senior shelved it home to tie things up at 1–1 with 4:58 remaining in the first.

“To get that huge power-play goal to bounce back from a 1–0 deficit really got our eventual jumpstart, and I think from then on, we played with much more urgency, much more confidence,” Brown said.

The Eagles entered the second period with Aram Minnetian serving the second half of his roughing penalty. BC was assessed four penalties, but its aggressive penalty-kill strategy kept the Terriers’ power-play unit quiet for the majority of the night.

“Our penalty kill was very sharp tonight,” Brown said. “If we went down 2–0 quick, that would have been really hard, so the penalty kill is probably what kept it close until we got our legs underneath us.”

The second period started as a goalie showcase.

Sacha Boisvert angled across the crease to try to sneak a shot past Cloutier, but a last-second leg kick kept the puck out of the back of the net by mere inches. Mikhail Yegorov wanted in on the “oohs” and “ahhs,” as well. Brady Berard entered a breakaway without a single player in his vicinity, but a quick flash of the glove cleaned up his backhand attempt and kept the squads tied at one.

“Luka is a cool customer, especially because he didn’t have a great night on Friday,” Brown said. “So for him to bounce back, it shows a lot of mental toughness.”

From then on, BC’s upperclassmen decided they were not going to let yet another Beanpot slip away.

“Those guys took control and were really not only positive, but just forceful, and they were going to do everything they could,” Brown said about the senior leadership. “And you’re really happy to see them have success and be able to not only talk about playing well and succeeding, but going out and doing it.”

Lukas Gustafsson circled back to the top of the circles near the five-minute mark of the second period, firing a shot into heavy traffic. Will Vote delivered with the tip-in for a 2–1 lead, his 20th point of the season. 

BC went back on the power play once again a couple minutes later, and it only took Gustafsson 13 seconds of the man-up advantage to get back on the scoresheet with another shot that flew into traffic and went directly past Yegorov.

Now, all BC had to do was what it has done best this season: close the game out. The Eagles are now 16–0 when entering the third period with the lead.

BC started the third by killing Drew Fortescue’s penalty that carried over from the final seconds of the second period. The Eagles went back to the power play 5:32 into the frame, and this time it only took four seconds for them to capitalize. 

A shot off the draw rebounded into the stick of Gasseau, who shoved home his second goal of the night and sixth of the season. 

“I think the biggest thing, when you’re playing against a pressure penalty kill, is you got to be ready for that,” Brown said. “You got to be ready to move your feet and move the puck—and our guys did that tonight.”

BU’s offense remained timid during the most crucial minutes of the third period, failing to generate quality chances when it mattered most. 

“I cannot get this group to play the same way, period to period, shift to shift—it’s just, it’s been all year,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said.

It wasn’t until 5:09 remained that Cole Eiserman slapped in BU’s second goal of the game to make it a 4–2 deficit. The Dog Pound was rejuvenated—but only for about a minute. 

Dean Letourneau made his mark, showcasing his hands in tight space by deking out Yegorov right in front of the crease and netting a backhander to put BC back up three. Vote added an empty-netter in the final minutes to cap off a 6–2 win, in which six different Eagles recorded more than one point. 

“This tournament has such a rich tradition in history, and you can feel the energy, even if you’re watching on TV—you can see the passion in it,” Brown said. “So to have that and to be a part of it—and it’s always better when you win—but I think for all four schools, that’s going to resonate with anyone who becomes familiar with or watches the tournament, that it’s something that’s pretty cool and they’d like to be a part of.”