BOSTON – The 70th Beanpot tournament has come and gone, but this one was unprecedented.

It's not uncommon for relatively unlikely heroes to step up and contribute in these high-pressure situations – the list of Beanpot MVPs is littered with undrafteds and players who never sniffed NHL time. But this year, unheralded players were often the leaders for their teams in a way no one has seen before: powering Harvard and Northeastern to their first-ever meeting in Beanpot final.

In the first week of games, Northeastern beat Boston University 3-1 (including an empty-netter), while Harvard knocked off Boston College 4-3 in overtime. In the consolation, BC won 4-2, before Northeastern won its eighth Beanpot championship, 3-2 in a shootout. That technically counts as a tie, but the Huskies will take i