LIVE BLOG: Harvard vs. Boston University Women's Hockey Beanpot Final

Postgame Ceremony: Harvard is presented with the Championship Trophy. Thanks for joining us live at the Walter Brown Arena.

Postgame Ceremony: MVP goes to Wilson. She had a goal and 2 assists in the Tournament, including the crucial third goal that gave Harvard a comfortable cushion in the final.

Postgame Ceremony: Kessler wins the Bertagna Award for the best goalie in the tournament. Kessler totaled 41 saves in two games, while only giving up two goals.

20:00: That's the game. Harvard wins its first Beanpot title in three years. The Crimson storms the ice. It's the 12th Beanpot championship for Harvard in the tournament's 30-year history. Harvard 3 - BU 1

19:11: The Terriers net is empty as BU attempts a last ditch effort at another goal.

18:00: Two minutes left and BU can't get anything started. A Harvard win is starting to look pretty inevitable.

15:02: Nice job by defender Cori Bassett, who repels a BU fast break by staying in front of Terriers forward Jillian Kirchner and blocking a hard slap shot.

13:09: Kessler battles some more assaults by the Terriers offense, finishing a couple of sequences sprawled on the ice but with the puck in her possession.

10:05: The Terriers miss three very good chances at finding the net, and Harvard clears the puck to end the power play.

08:21: Penalty on Cahow. If there was ever a chance for the Terriers to close the gap this is it. Harvard is on the penalty kill without its best defender.

06:30: The defenses have taken over in the third period. That's obviously fine for Harvard, but BU needs to put some points up.

0:00 - Start of the third period. If Harvard can hold on, this will be the first time the Crimson has won the Beanpot since 2005.

T-2 to third period: The Harvard band is "Ridin' Dirty" while Howie Mandel decides to counter with "Three Blind Mice." Nuff' said.

T-8 to third period: An esteemed former women's hockey writer reminded me via e-mail that if BU scores again but Harvard holds on, Crimson sophomore Anna McDonald will have scored the winning goal in Harvard's Beanpot game last season and assisted the winning goal in the Crimson's final Beanpot game this year. The catch: last season McDonald scored the winning goal in Harvard's 4-3 first round triple-overtime loss to BC, where she was a freshman for the Eagles.

Intermission: The BU Mascot, "Rhett," is on the ice trying to cheer on some youngsters in another shooting contest, this one with mini-nets. We're tied at two a piece. The young man in the white shirt takes the lead and raises his arms in glory, but the boy in the black shirt ties it back up and celebrates with the Tiger Woods fist pump. Awesome.

End of Second Period: Harvard seemed poised to pull away a few times, but the Terriers are keeping it a game. The Crimson has a 24-15 shot advantage. Harvard 3 - BU 1

19:49: As the period comes to a close, the Crimson misses out on a nice scoring opportunity. Ryabkina came down on a fast break with some room but made a pass to no one in particular that killed the chance.

17:30: They do. Great job of knocking away rebounds by BU.

15:38: BU Penalty. The Terriers really need to kill this one if they want to stay in the game.

09:25: Nice save by Wilcox to stop the bleeding for BU. Vaillancourt and Griffin both had shots at the net but Wilcox was able to fall on top of the puck.

08:03: HARVARD GOAL - McDonald and Wilson fly down the ice on a two-on-two. McDonald passes off to Wilson who makes it past a Terriers defender and launches a shot. The puck hits a BU player in front of the net and deflects in. Harvard 3 - BU 1

06:13: The teams trade quick penalties, setting up a four-on-four. Interesting to see if the speedy Harvard team will take advantage of getting some space on the ice.

03:34: BU GOAL - The Terriers convert the power play chance. BU crashed the net and forward Jonnie Bloemers put away the rebound. Harvard 2 - BU 1

01:55: Penalty on Cahow. Terriers get their first power play chance.

01:30: Chants of "Grade inflation!" from the Terriers fans. My transcript says otherwise.

0:26: HARVARD GOAL - The Crimson came onto the ice with a power play and immediately took advantage of it. Harvard executed a textbook bang-bang play, as two quick passes from Vaillancourt and Brine opened up Cahow on the right side of the net for the score. Cahow now takes the national lead in power play goals with 10 on the season. Harvard 2 - BU 0

0:00: The teams are back on the ice and play is resuming.

T-6 to 2nd Period: In the battle of the bands that's going on right now, it appeared that the BU was taking the lead with some jazzy zoot-suit era tunes and herky-jerky dance moves, but now the Harvard University Band is pulling out all the stops, busting out some Abba as Howie Mandel's crew tries to recover. UPDATE: The BU band made a nice comeback...but Harvard's finest musicians just established that they indeed "Got the Funk."

Intermission: We're having some kind of shooting contest. A BU student is taking shots from center ice. He missed the first and was immediately turned on by his classmates who shouted, "You suck!" However, he knocked in the next two and will presumably be winning some sort of prize.

End of First Period: Harvard 1-BU 0. The Terriers are holding up very well, out-shooting Harvard 11-6. There's only three sandwiches left in the press box, and I intend on getting one of them.

17:25: Harvard misses out on its first power play shot of the game. The Crimson came into this one with the second-best power play unit in the nation.

15:17: Wow. BU forward Holly Lorms found herself on a fast break with a one-on-one chance against Kessler. Lorms lifted a beauty of a shot over Kessler's glove-side shoulder, but the sophomore netminder flashed the leather just in time to snatch the puck out of the air. I heard the Yankees aren't sure who's going to be playing first base for them this year...just a thought.

10:56: Terriers goalie Allyse Wilcox and the BU defense do a nice job withstanding a big offensive push from the Crimson.

08:20: BU had a few good looks at the net but couldn't manage to finish the job.

05:45: Standout Harvard goalie Christina Kessler gets tried for the first time tonight, makes  an easy save with the pads. Kessler leads the nation statistically in all major goaltending categories coming into the game with a .961 save percentage and 0.81 goals against average.

03:24: HARVARD GOAL. Sophomore transfer Anna McDonald sets up behind the net and feeds a pass to freshman Liza Ryabkina in front. Nice play from the new Crimson newcomers. Junior Sarah Wilson also nabs an assist. Harvard 1 - BU 0

0:00: It's game time. Harvard brings out a starting line of Jenny Brine, Sarah Vaillancourt, Randi Griffin, Kathryn Farni, and Crimson Player of the Week Caitlin Cahow.

T-1: Just finished the National Anthem. The BU band is being conducted by a bald man who looks very much like "Deal or No Deal" host Howie Mandel.

T-6: The teams are being introduced on the ice. Both bands are in attendance, and it's a pretty good crowd for the visiting Harvard squad.

T-9: Welcome to the Live Blog of the Women's Beanpot final between Harvard and Boston University. The No. 1 Crimson would appear to be a heavy favorite in this one, but as last night's men's game between Harvard and BC proved, anything can happen in the Beanpot.

— Staff writer Loren Amor is live on the scene at the Walter Brown Arena at Boston University