BC Men’s Hockey: It’s Called The Deanpot.
By Luke Ballard
Boston College routed 24th NPI-ranked Boston University in dominant fashion during the Beanpot final Monday night, cruising to a 6–2 win in the 300th iteration of the Battle of Comm. Ave. The Eagles improve to 16–9–1 on the season, and rose to 12th in the NPI rankings, while also seeing themselves hoist the Beanpot trophy for the first time in 10 years. Boston College continues to close the gap in the all-time record for the Battle of Comm. Ave., as Boston University leads the series 141–138-21.
Boston University continues to fall further from grace, dropping to 29th in the NPI rankings and 13–14–2 on the season. Coming off a national championship appearance in 2025 and rostering 19 N.H.L draft picks, the Terriers’ season seemingly ended last night despite the high hopes at the start.
Two minutes in, Brandon Svoboda, San Jose Sharks 2023 third round pick, caught Boston College and Luka Cloutier sleeping after a transition break from a Teddy Stiga missed opportunity. For the next 15 minutes, it seemed to be all Terriers, until Andre Gasseau netted one on a BC power play with assists from Ryan Conmy and James Hagens. BC’s power play continues to be a focal point for their offense, as they lead Hockey East with a 27.6 percent conversion rate on the odd-man advantage. Boston College’s penalty kill was also on full display last night, killing 4-of-5 BU power plays, as BC’s penalty kill improved to 83.3 percent, a number among the top in the nation.
Hoping to bounce back from Friday’s embarrassing 6–1 loss to Vermont, Boston College has seemingly turned a new page, scoring six of its own. Of course, Dean Letourneau netted one for the Eagles, as echoes of “Deannnn” boomed throughout The Garden, with many students now referring to the second-year forward as “Deanpot LeTournament.” The Eagles also saw goals from Lukas Gustafsson (1), Will Vote (2), and Andre Gasseau (2). Boston College’s first line of Letourneau, Sondreal, and Vote continued to be a driving force as they have meshed incredibly well since the January break.
Dean Letourneau’s performance extended well beyond the stat sheet last night, as the Canadian was everywhere on the ice, and seemingly always at the right place at the right time. Vote’s first goal during the latter half of the second period can be directly attributed to Letourneau, despite the fact that he did not record an assist. Letourneau’s hustle and speed allowed him to win a critical puck battle with two BU defensemen and to retain possession for the Eagles, allowing Gustafsson and Stiga to assist Vote. It has been nothing short of incredible to see Letourneau’s turn around compared to the forward’s first-year campaign. After only recording three points on three assists last season, Letourneau has recorded 28 points through 26 games played with 16 goals and 12 assists.
The good news doesn’t end there for Eagles fans, as multiple other players had excellent games relative to past performances. James Hagens, who won the Beanpot M.V.P., recording 5 points through the two games, and bagged two critical assists while providing excellent spacing and flow to the game. Teddy Stiga announced his return to the ice with two assists, including a beautiful cross-ice feed to Letourneau for the fifth goal of the game. Stiga, who has been relatively quiet since the new year, came into the final with only three points since the January 16th contest versus Providence, where the Friars picked up the weekend sweep over the Eagles. Junior Ryan Conmy also exploded for a four-assist game, tallying a total of 19 with eight goals and 11 assists.
Also noteworthy is the backbone of BC’s defense, freshman Louka Cloutier, making his 23rd start for the Eagles. Cloutier allowed two goals on 27 shots, posting a .931 save percentage, and was the man of the hour for Boston College with multiple game-saving blocks, including a diving kick-save to deny Cole Hutson a sure goal. After conceding the early goal, Cloutier remained composed and bounced back, an underrated trait for the freshman netminder who has faced many challenges this year.
With Boston College riding high off their first Beanpot win since 2016, one can hope that this momentum can carry on through the rest of the season. With two big weekend series in the near future with UConn and BU again, BC needs to maintain the competitive level they displayed last night. The Eagles will also face off with Northeastern once more, who swept BC earlier in the season, and with UMass, who are riding high off a nine-game win streak.
As for the Boston University Terriers and their 19 draft picks, the future of this season looks grim. Falling to 13–14–2, the Terriers must win the Hockey East postseason tournament to qualify for the national bracket.
“I cannot get this group to play the same way,” Terriers head coach Jay Pandolfo stated, “Period-to-period, shift-to-shift. It’s been that way all year. It’s really nothing new tonight.”
With clear frustrations boiling over in the post-game press conference, it will be interesting to see the steps BU takes to get them pointed in the right direction. With coaches blaming players, and players not producing on the ice, team morale seems at an all-time low for last season’s national runner-up.