There was too much for the Huskies to overcome on Monday as No. 20 Boston University snuffed out No. 15 Northeastern’s dream of a fourth straight Beanpot with a late 1-0 win at TD Garden.

The torrid Terriers (17-10-3) scored the only goal with 2:48 remaining. BU’s Domenick Fensore flicked a high pass up the left wing that was controlled by Jamie Armstrong and then centered in tight to Dylan Peterson, the tournament MVP, who arrived at the far post to score before Northeastern goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter could react.

The Terriers are the hottest team in the country, having gone 13-1-1 since early December. And they were especially hungry to win the Beanpot, having lost four championship games since their last title in 2015.

It was a disappointing night for the Huskies (19-9-1), who were outshot 29-19 overall. They stayed in the game because of Semptimphelter, the 19-year-old freshman who was filling in while starter Devon Levi is in Beijing representing Canada at the Winter Olympics.

Semptimphelter won the Eberly Award as the Beanpot’s top goaltender after allowing two goals on 71 shots over the two games, including Northeastern’s 3-1 semifinal win over Boston College last week.

“I feel bad for him because he had another great game for us,” Huskies coach Jerry Keefe said of Semptimphelter. “The better team won. We didn’t deserve to win that game. Not sure why we didn’t play well, but we didn’t.”

In this sensational Northeastern run over the past five seasons—last year’s tournament having been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic—the Huskies had twice knocked off BU in the tournament final, culminating in a dramatic double-overtime 2-1 win in 2020. But this time the plot deviated. The Terriers believed it was their time, a state of being that the Huskies well understood.

“I didn’t think we had much jump tonight,” Keefe said. “We didn’t have a lot of second effort on pucks. Some of that might be our opponent.”

It was a night of promise as Northeastern set out to earn its fourth straight championship—as many as the university had won over the preceding 65 years of the tournament.

In a pregame ceremony, athletic director Jim Madigan became the 15th member of the Northeastern community to be inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame. He won Beanpots with Northeastern as a player, assistant coach, and then as head coach—renewing the Huskies program with the help of Keefe, his long-time assistant, who is in his first season as Madigan’s replacement behind the bench.

The Huskies enjoyed tremendous fan support, but even the back-and-forth taunts between the students of BU and Northeastern grew sporadic as the third period became mesmerizing—everyone waiting to see who would break through first.

BU backup goalie Vinny Duplessis—subbing in for the Terriers’ Olympic-bound goalie as well—needed only to make 19 saves. The Huskies challenged Duplessis, especially while trying to force overtime, but the Terriers held.

In addition to the missing goalies, the Huskies were without forward Justin Hryckowian, and the Terriers were missing defenseman Alex Vlasic.

Keefe hoped his team would grow from this loss.

“This was one of our main goals,” he said while looking ahead to the Hockey East and—potentially—NCAA tournaments. “There are other goals in mind and other trophies that we’re chasing. The one lesson we’ve got to learn when you play in a big game is that you’ve got to bring it. Hopefully, we learn from this.”

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