[UPDATE: Boston University beat Boston College 4-1 in the Beanpot final.]
Monday night’s annual Beanpot Tournament final will see a sold-out TD Garden cheering on two men’s ice hockey powerhouses, Boston College and Boston University. While No. 1 BC and No. 8 BU have battled on the ice since 1918 and the Beanpot’s been contested with Harvard and Northeastern since 1952, the frenzy for tickets to the game reflects one thing about the sport these days: College hockey is booming.
How popular has the game become? When tickets went on sale for this year’s tournament, BC students quickly bought up their allotment. Those left out skipped ticket brokers and instead bought up the student section for unranked Harvard, its neighbor three miles to the north. According to a report in the Harvard Crimson, one BC student said there were already 7,000 people ahead of her in the ticket queue when she got the link from the athletic department for the Beanpot. Whether BC students were given the links by friends at Harvard or BC students who just figured out the right URL—officials aren’t sure—she and other students jumped to buy Harvard’s tickets, which didn’t require any proof of attendance at Harvard. One BC student even told others on a chat board the Harvard ticket office gladly helps if there’s a problem, according to the paper.
The result was the upper tier at 17,850-capacity TD Garden for the opening round, four-school doubleheader seemed to be at least half BC students, based on videos posted on social media. The Eagles clobbered Northeastern, 8-2, to reach the Beanpot final.
BC student demand might not be surprising—students routinely line up hours ahead of time to get seats at prime contests on Chestnut Hill—but it’s a sign that college hockey’s popularity on campuses everywhere continues to soar. According to the latest data from USCHO.com, a college hockey publication, the nation’s 64 Division I men’s hockey teams are playing to 75% capacity crowds, up from 73% last season. Eleventh-ranked UConn leads with playing in front of 132% of the stated Toscano Family Ice Forum capacity—an average of 3,442 fans—although three games so far at Hartford’s much larger XL Center skews the data. BC has been playing to 90% capacity at 7,884-seat Conte Forum, BU at 84% of 6,221-seat Agganis Arena, with 7-13-2 Harvard skating to 55% attendance at its 3,100-seat arena.
Even lower-level hockey is seeing an uptick. The nation’s 93 Division II and III men’s program schools have seen crowds rise to 32% capacity this season, up 30.5% last year, according to USCHO. The average 3,211- person crowds at Utica University would rank 27th in top-tier hockey this season.
On the women’s side, attendance is also higher, up three percentage points to 23% capacity among 44 D-I programs, led by Wisconsin, which is drawing at 171% stated capacity with average crowds of 3,878, though a game at Wrigley Field this season also skews the capacity figure. The 78 lower division women’s teams are also drawing more strongly, playing to greater than 16% capacity this season, compared to 2023-24’s 15%. The trend across the divisions continues strong growth for college hockey already—last year’s D-I men’s attendance was up 9% from the prior year, for example.
Demand means ticket prices for Monday’s Boston battle have jumped. Student tickets originally sold for as low as $20.50 for corner upper deck seats. A recent listing on SeatGeek showed seats in the same sections asking a minimum $141 for the single admission consolation and championship games. Some of the best seats at the glass were listed for more than $800 on the ticket platform.
For BC and BU fans, the game typically has national title implications as well. Since the Beanpot began, none of the four participating men’s teams have won a national championship without first winning the Beanpot. Last year’s BC and BU teams made the Frozen Four but fell short—Northeastern was last year’s Beanpot victor.
