Boston U beats Harvard 3-1 to reach Beanpot final

BOSTON -- Wade Megan scored a pair of second-period goals and Kieran Millan stopped 29 shots to lift top-ranked Boston University to a 3-1 win over Harvard in the opening round of the 60th Beanpot tournament Monday.

The Terriers (17-8-1) advanced to their 26th championship game in 29 years and will face the Boston College-Northeastern winner next Monday night to decide the annual showdown between the area's four college hockey powers.

Matt Nieto had the other goal for Boston University, which won for the seventh time in nine games. Earlier in the day, the Terriers took over the top spot in the NCAA Division I poll compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online.

Alex Killorn scored a power-play for Harvard (7-7-9), which was 3-0-3 in its previous six games.

The Terriers are trying to end what is -- for them -- a Beanpot slump. They haven't captured the championship the past two years and will look to avoid their first three-year drought since 1983-85 when they make their 49th appearance in the final next week.

BU has won the most Beanpot titles with 29, including 28 in the last 46 years. But last season represented a rare flop -- the Terriers lost in overtime to archrival Boston College in the first round and then were beaten by Harvard in the third-place game.

It was Harvard's first Beanpot victory over BU since 1994 and the first fourth-place finish for the Terriers since 1980.

Megan's two goals came just less than 7 minutes apart midway through the second period and pushed BU's lead to 3-0.

On the first, he fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle between goalie Steve Michalek's pads for a power-play goal. His second goal came off his own solid effort when Megan collected the puck in the left corner, cut to the front of the net and slipped a short backhander by Michalek.

Harvard cut it to 3-1 just more than a minute later when Killorn collected a pass in the slot and slipped a wrister over Millan's right shoulder.

The Terriers grabbed a 1-0 lead when Nieto beat Michalek with a wraparound score 8:14 into the opening period.

BU rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Harvard 4-3 in overtime Jan. 15 in the their only other meeting this season. The Crimson have won the Beanpot 10 times, but their last title was in 1993.

There was a sparse crowd for most of the game -- with the TD Garden less than half full.

Boston College won last year's Beanpot, beating Northeastern 7-6 in overtime for its second consecutive title and third in four years.

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