Georgia native Krusko embraces ’Pot as MVP
The Harvard roster is populated with talented players from the hockey-rich regions of the United States and Canada.
This year’s Beanpot MVP is not one of them.
Freshman Nathan Krusko, a public high school graduate from Alpharetta, Ga., scored two goals to help Harvard to a 6-3 victory over Boston University in the title game last night at the TD Garden. The third-ranked Crimson captured the Beanpot title for the first time since 1993.
“Anytime you are playing for trophy you are easily up for it, but a lot of my motivation came from the boys from Medford and Scituate,” said Krusko. “Playing for the guy next to you is just as important and anytime a trophy is on the line you are up for it.”
Krusko is the first Harvard player to be named tournament MVP since Ted Drury in 1993 and the first freshman since Northeastern’s Kevin Roy in 2013.
Krusko opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:10 of the first period with some assistance from seniors Sean Malone and Clay Anderson.
Later, Krusko put Harvard up, 3-2, by positioning himself to make a play in front of the BU net at 18:54 of the second. Defenseman John Marino won a puck battle on the boards and sent the puck through the slot. The puck deflected off the skate of BU defenseman Dante Fabbro to Krusko between the circles. Krusko fired a beautiful backhand shot that eluded BU goalie Jake Oettinger for his eighth of the season.
Krusko had a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Quinnipiac on Jan. 6 and has eight goals on the season.
Lopsided totals
During his postgame press conference, BU coach David Quinn had trouble grasping Harvard’s 46-17 shots edge.
Harvard outshot BU 18-2 in the first, 12-8 in the second and 16-7 in the third. Senior center Alex Kerfoot led Harvard with seven shots followed by Luke Esposito (5), Phil Zielonka (5) and Krusko (5).
Oettinger made 40 saves.
Consolation prize
Zach Aston-Reese set up Dylan Sikura for the gamewinner with 42 seconds remaining in Northeastern’s 4-2 victory over Boston College in the consolation game.
Adam Gaudette scored an empty-netter with 28 seconds to play to complete the scoring. Sikura’s 19th tally of the season was also his fifth game-winner, while AstonReese notched his 28th assist and nation-leading 52nd point. The Huskies (13-12-5) handed BC coach Jerry York his first consolation game loss in 23 seasons with their first win over BC (18-12-2) this season in three tries.
The game was decided in the final two minutes and included a controversial call against the Eagles. BC freshman winger David Cotton appeared to have scored with 1:13 remaining to put BC up, 3-2. But after review, the goal was disallowed because of goaltender interference on Ryan Ruck.
Family affair
NU freshman left winger Matt Filipe of Lynnfield scored the Huskies’ first two goals. Filipe’s father, Paul, was an NU teammate of Madigan’s on the 1981-82 squad that went to the Frozen Four for the only time in program history.
NHL Hall of Fame forward Mark Messier was in the house cheering for Harvard. Esposito is Messier’s nephew and he scored the Crimson’s second goal.