CHESTNUT HILL – The Boston College men’s hockey team got ensnared in a Beanpot trap.
On the eve of a historic encounter, No. 11 Boston College was ambushed 6-1 by the Vermont Catamounts in a quantifiable trap game upset on Friday night at Conte Forum.
The Eagles fell to 15-9-1 overall and 10-6-0 Hockey East in their dress rehearsal for the 300th Battle of Commonwealth Ave. against crosstown nemesis Boston University, a rivalry that dates back 108 years.
“Probably,” said BC coach Greg Brown when asked if he thought his players were looking ahead to Monday. “We talked about this game a lot, for league standings, for national standings, everything is important and we weren’t sharp enough.
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“We have to get over this in a hurry. We will take a look at it, regroup so we can be sharper. We know we can’t make those kinds of mistakes and win games.”
The timing of the milestone match could not have been scripted any better. BC and BU will play for the 300th time in the championship game of the 73rd annual Dunkin Beanpot Tournament on Monday night (7:30) at the TD Garden.
The defending champion Terriers will engage the Eagles for the 24th time in the title match. BU is going for its record 33rd Beanpot title while BC looks to secure its 21st. BU leads the overall series, 141-137-21.
BC advanced to the Beanpot title game with a 5-1 victory over Harvard. Boston Bruins 2025 first round draft pick and Hobey Baker Award nominee James Hagens had two goals and an assist against the Crimson.
BU scored two shootout goals after three-on-three overtime to beat Northeastern in the other semifinal. The game went into the books as a 2-2 tie with BU winning in the shootout. The No. 9. Terriers beat the No. 1 Eagles 4-1 in last year’s championship game.
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“The timing just adds more excitement to it for everybody,” said Brown. “We know they are a great team and we have to play better than we did tonight.
“We have to play faster and execute at a higher level. It is going to be a fun game. I think both teams are capable of playing a lot of good hockey. It will be exciting to see who can execute better.”
BC showed early signs of being embroiled in a trap game when Vermont scored two unanswered goals in the first period. Top line center Colin Kessler forced a neutral zone turnover, broke in on the left flank and backhanded the puck around BC goalie Louka Cloutier at 1:20 for his fourth of the season. Vermont made it 2-0 when sophomore left wing Ethan Burroughs beat Cloutier top shelf on the glove side for his third of the season at 8:24.
“I thought it was a complete game from head to toe from our guys,” said Vermont coach Stephen Weidler. “I certainly felt like from the net all out we were dialed all the way into what our identity is and what our system needs to be.
“We were just playing our version of hockey. BC had their pushes and we didn’t get bored with being simple. We knew we had our hands full but for us it was about our process and staying focused on the first task at hand.”
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BC attempted to dispel the notion of a trap game on the power play 47 seconds into the second period. The Eagles cut the lead to 2-1 when Hagens redirected a Lukas Gustafsson slapper from the point for his 15th of the season.
Vermont appeared to take a 3-1 at 7:20 but the replay revealed that defenseman Caeden Herrington kicked the puck into the net. Undaunted, Vermont went up 3-1 on the power play at 12:40 when Herrington set up junior defenseman Sebastien Tornqvist for his fourth of the season.
Vermont went up 4-1 at 2:27 of the third on a scenario that added injury to insult. On the same play that senior left-wing Massimo Lombardi netted his fifth of the season, BC freshman center and Bruins’ draft pick Will Moore left the game in pain with an apparent right shoulder injury. Vermont freshman right wing Matteo Michels scored on a breakaway to make it 5-1 at 5:39.
“There is no update on (Moore) at all,” said Brown. “It looked like he got caught in an extended position but hopefully he is okay.”
An inbound stretch of Storrow Drive and Soldiers Field Road will be closed each night through August for tunnel repairs, officials announced.
Starting Monday, the closures will begin at 8 p.m. and last until 5 a.m., state officials said.
Road closures begin at North Harvard Street in Allston and stretch along the Charles River Esplanade to Mugar Way in Boston, near the Hatch Memorial Shell, officials said.
Traffic will be detoured into Cambridge over the Anderson Bridge, along Memorial Drive, and then be routed into Boston over the Longfellow Bridge.
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The closures will allow ongoing repairs to the Storrow Drive Tunnel in the Back Bay.The work is the first phase of a two-stage project to extend the lifespan of the tunnel, which carries roughly 50,000 drivers to and from downtown Boston daily.
The outbound portion of the tunnel and accompanying roadways will not be affected.
State transportation officials said changes to the work schedule will be made when necessary to minimize impacts during major local events at TD Garden, Fenway Park, or during the FIFA World Cup and 250th anniversary celebrations scheduled for this summer.
Additional changes may be made without notice due to weather.
Transportation officials have not specified when the closures will end.
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Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.
OXFORD — Ole Miss softball is back in the NCAA Tournament after making the Women’s College World Series a season ago.
The Rebels (34-24) will play Boston (46-13) on May 15 (1 p.m. CT, ESPNU) in the Lubbock Regional. Ole Miss is the No. 2 seed in the regional, and Boston is the No. 3.
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Texas Tech (52-6), the No. 11 overall seed and regional host, will face No. 4 Marist (37-19).
The Rebels went 6-18 in SEC play this season, and have a largely new-look roster from the team that made the WCWS last season.
Ole Miss beat South Carolina and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament to improve its seed.
Freshman Madi George has burst onto the scene in the SEC. The first-year infielder leads Ole Miss with a .385 batting average. She has a team-high 21 home runs and 58 RBIs.
Seniors Emilee Boyer (3.86 ERA), Kyra Aycock (3.97 ERA) and junior Lily Whitten (3.04 ERA) are the primary options in the circle for coach Jamie Trachsel.
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Trachsel is in her sixth season leading the Ole Miss program. She led the Rebels to their first WCWS appearance in program history in 2025.
What to know about Boston, Texas Tech and Marist in Lubbock Regional
Boston entered the Patriot League Tournament as the top seed and the Terriers delivered. Boston beat No. 2 Colgate 12-1, becoming the second team in Patriot League history to four-peat as conference champions. Boston is on a 12-game winning streak. Kylie Doherty leads the team with a .396 batting average and 26 home runs.
Texas Tech made the 2025 WCWS championship series, losing to Texas in three games.
Texas Tech lost just three Big 12 games this season but lost in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. The Red Raiders are a strong threat to get to the WCWS again. There are four Texas Tech batters hitting over .400. Star pitcher NiJaree Canady leads the Red Raiders with a 1.24 ERA. She has 209 strikeouts.
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Marist plays in the MAAC and won the conference tournament. Marist split a two-game series against South Carolina early in the season. Ava Metzger (12-3, 2.51 ERA) and Peyton Pusey (.404 batting average) lead the team.
Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_
Attendees held umbrellas as The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe
Mojo, a music brand and concert organizer, was founded in 2021 by Charley Blacker, Alex Parker, and Emily Donovan while they were students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The trio of friends decided to create Mojo out of their shared love for music and house shows.
“We saw there were so many local musicians that were so talented, but they didn’t have the platform we thought they really deserved,” Blacker told the Globe during Saturday’s festivities. “So we thought if we could do the behind-the-scenes work of organizing photographers and [provide] a social media platform, we could give these musicians the platform they deserve.”
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Attendees danced as The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe
Five years later, the team behind Mojo is sticking to their mission, tackling their biggest venue yet with this weekend’s event at City Hall Plaza, which previously served as the original location for Boston Calling before it moved to the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston. Boston Calling announced last year that it is taking a one-year hiatus in 2026, with plans to return in 2027.
In addition to getting the chance to work on such a big event with his best friends, Blacker hopes Mojo Boston can help “lead to a lot more opportunities for local music.”
People browsed food vendors at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe
There was a wide range of genres represented at Saturday’s event, from the pop-rock stylings of The Bends to house and garage music from DJ AC Slater. Prior to the Boston debut, Mojo brought a festival to Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley in April and returned to Amherst later that month to host another event.
Mojo Boston attendees and former UMass Amherst students Emily Bowler and Max Debeau have been familiar with Mojo since its inception, watching the organization go from hosting basement shows to full scale music festivals. Debeau noted how many of the acts at Saturday’s event have worked with Mojo in the past, performing at UMass and other shows around the Bay State.
“To see it all come together has been great,” Debeau said. “This is the stage that they all deserve.”
“It’s crazy how quickly they were able to erect something so amazing,” Bowler added.
Amanda Giroux danced away from the stage while The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe
Formed in New Bedford, the band Autumn Drive was one of 18 acts that performed at Mojo Boston, and they are no strangers to a Mojo show.
“We’ve done, I think, every single Mojo that there is, so we’re very tight with them,” said guitarist and singer Charlie Gamache. “When we found out they were doing a big festival [in Boston], I was like, ‘We want in no matter what.’”
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The band emphasized how much their relationship with Mojo has meant to them over the years, with Autumn Drive drummer Joe Gauvin praising the organization for “always putting us in front of a crowd that’s there to see music and hear us.”
Michael Asulin, of Stoughton, and Jackie Ludicke, of Miami, Fla., talked while wearing ponchos at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe
From a makeshift stage out of wooden pallets in his basement to Boston’s City Hall Plaza, Blacker is is proud of Mojo’s success and is already looking ahead at what’s to come.
“This is really just the start of it all,” said Blacker. “We have very lofty ambitions and goals, and we have nothing but confidence in our ability to accomplish everything we set out to do.”
Gitana Savage can be reached at gitana.savage@globe.com. Follow her on X @gitana_savage.
