The Beanpot is an annual men's and women's ice hockey tournament among the four major college hockey teams of the Greater Boston area in the United States: the Boston University Terriers, Boston College Eagles, Harvard University Crimson, and Northeastern University Huskies.Beanpot official site http://www.beanpothockey.com
The men's tournament is held annually since the 1952–53 season, usually during the first two Mondays in February. Games are played at TD Garden since 1996, except for 2021 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Boston College is the current men's Beanpot champion, having won the 2026 tournament. The women's tournament began in 1979, with the championship game being held at TD Garden since 2024. Harvard won the 2026 women's tournament in overtime against Boston University.
Due to the success of the hockey tournament, numerous other "Beanpots" have been contested in a number of other sports over the years, usually involving teams from the same four schools.
Format The competitors are: Boston University Terriers (58-time finalists, 32-time winners; last championship in 2025) Boston College Eagles (38-time finalists, 21-time winners; last championship in 2026) Harvard University Crimson (27-time finalists, 11-time winners; last championship in 2017) Northeastern University Huskies (23-time finalists, 9-time winners; last championship in 2024)
The tournament lasts two rounds, with first-round opponents being rotated from year to year. The second round features the consolation game and the championship game.
In addition to the tournament trophy, two individual awards are given out each year. The Eberly TrophyEberly Award winners http://www.beanpothockey.com/awardseberly.html goes to the goaltender with the highest save percentage who plays in both of his team's games, while the Beanpot MVP is awarded to the tournament's most valuable player.
Overtime format 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 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 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, barring a further change in the rules.
Men's Beanpot
History The first Beanpot was contested at Boston Arena in December 1952, now known as Matthews Arena. No tournament was played during the 1953 calendar year. In 1952, the tournament was scheduled on the two nights after Christmas to occupy unused dates at the arena. The next two tournaments were held in January (1954 and 1955). All subsequent Beanpot games have been played in February (except 1978; see below).
The tournament quickly outgrew the 4,500 seating capacity of the Boston Arena and the second through 43rd Beanpots (1954 through 1995) were held at the old 14,000 seat Boston Garden. Since 1996, the Beanpot has been held at the Garden's replacement, the 17,500-seat TD Garden. The competition generally takes place on the first and second Mondays in February and often draws one of the largest crowds of the college hockey season outside of the men's Frozen Four.
The 1978 Beanpot has taken a mythic place in Boston sports lore, as several hundred fans were stuck in the Garden for several days after the Blizzard of 1978 dumped more than two feet of snow during the night of the first-round games. The championship and consolation games were moved to Wednesday, March 1.
Every championship game up until 2023 has featured either Boston College or Boston University. After 70 iterations of the tournament, the Northeastern Huskies and Harvard Crimson finally both emerged victorious in the Semifinal, and played each other for the title. The Huskies defeated the Crimson 3–2 in the tournament's first-ever shootout to determine the game's winner, let alone a championship. Conversely, the first meeting between BC and BU in the consolation game occurred, with the Eagles taking the 3rd-place in a 3–1 finish.
None of the four competing teams have won the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship without first winning the Beanpot trophy that season. With the exception of the 1949 Boston College Eagles (as the tournament had yet to be created), all five Boston University NCAA championships (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009), Boston College's four other NCAA championships (2001, 2008, 2010, 2012), and Harvard's sole 1989 NCAA championship, were all accompanied by a victory in the Beanpot title game. Northeastern has not yet won an NCAA championship. This phenomenon has led fans of the Beanpot schools to believe dreams for a national title hold water if they indeed succeed in February. Boston College head coach Jerry York has often referred to the beginning of February as "Trophy Season," in which the Beanpot title is the first of three trophies that he wishes his team to attain, the others being the Hockey East tournament trophy, and the NCAA tournament trophy.
Since the Beanpot's 1952 inception, the team rosters, once dominated by New Englanders and Canadians, have gradually evolved to include a greater cross-section of the United States as well as other countries. The 2020 Beanpot included players from Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, and Texas. Reflecting a trend across college hockey, where 117 European students were playing at the NCAA Division I level in 2020, the Boston University Terriers roster included Kasper Kotkansalo from Finland and Wilmer Skoog from Sweden who scored the winning goal in Boston University's overtime goal in their upset win against Boston College in the 2020 Beanpot semi-final. After the game, Skoog said "It was the biggest game of my life."
Boston University Boston University has won 32 Men's Beanpot titles to date, winning their most recent title in 2025. Despite historical dominance, recent years have been less successful for the Terriers, winning only three out of ten Beanpot titles since 2015. However, the Terriers have still consistently remained competitive in the competition, reaching the title game in an additional 5 of those 10 years.
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.
After winning the 2015 Beanpot title, the Terriers had overcome the "Beanpot Curse" and had the opportunity to contest the National Championship. However, a late collapse meant fellow Hockey East school Providence College walked away with their first NCAA title in program history. Over the next 3 years, Boston University lost consecutively in the Beanpot final to every other Beanpot school, in the order of BC-Harvard-Northeastern.
The Terriers' next Men's Beanpot title would only come in 2022, against Northeastern."Boston University beats Northeastern to win 2022 men's Beanpot; Harvard wins women's tournament." NCAA.com. Archived from the original on 2026-08-27. Retrieved 2026-08-27 Despite BU outshooting Northeastern, Northeastern goaltender Semptimphelter kept a shutout late into the 3rd period. With the teams tied at 0-0 (courtesy of a goal line save by Terrier forward Jay O'Brien), Boston University junior Jamie Armstrong found sophomore Dylan Peterson on a 2-on-1 to score the game's first goal with less than 3 minutes left. BU held on to win their 31st Beanpot title, in the process preventing Northeastern from winning their 4th consecutive title.
The 2025 Beanpot was a hotly anticipated matchup against #1 ranked Green Line rivals Boston College, coming just weeks after the Eagles convincingly swept the Terriers in a home-and-home series. The game started with BC taking the lead via a Perreault goal in under 10 minutes. Despite dominating the period, the Eagles only took a 1–0 lead into the locker room at intermission. Freshmen Brandon Svoboda and Cole Hutson scored consecutive goals in the second period to take the lead, Cole Eiserman and Gavin McCarthy added goals in the third to secure the 32nd Beanpot title. The teams and students were joined in celebration by program alumni and Calder hopefuls Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson.
Boston College 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 went the following nine consecutive seasons without winning the tournament, only making the championship game three times in that span, before finally snapping the streak ten years later in 2026.
Harvard