Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern have the first two Mondays of February circled on their calendars all year long, but the 67th Beanpot can finally come into focus now with the tournament’s first round set for tonight at TD Garden. BC and Harvard meet at 5 p.m., setting the stage for a rematch of last year’s title game between BU and Northeastern.
The anticipation for the famed tournament builds as the second half of the season begins in January, but being in the midst of tight Hockey East and ECAC playoff races makes it necessary to stay the course and treat the Beanpot as just another game on the schedule until it arrives.
“The first time I probably heard about the Beanpot was on my visit to Northeastern,” said Huskies defenseman and captain Eric Williams, a native of Newmarket, Ontario. “It was one of the pillars they talked about, the highlight of the regular season, and one of the goals that the team sets every year. Throughout the visit, and then freshman year once Christmas hits, it's kind of all anyone talked about.”
Everyone’s especially talking about the Beanpot on Huntington Avenue this year as the Huskies won their first title in 30 years last February. Northeastern has played for the Beanpot in four of the last six years and enters this year’s installment with more overall wins (15) than any team in the field.
The tournament can be a good measuring stick for what’s to come, too, as all four teams ― “800-pound gorillas,” as Northeastern coach Jim Madigan (Milton, Mass.) likes to call them ― have annual aspirations of competing beyond those conference playoff races. All but the Eagles did just that a year ago with BU coming one win shy of the Frozen Four after falling in the Beanpot for the third consecutive year and then winning the Hockey East title at the Garden.
“The parity is such that you really have to stay focused,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato (Dedham, Mass.), whose team earned a 4-1 win over Dartmouth in its last action and enters tonight looking for its second Beanpot title in a three-year span after breaking a 24-year drought in 2017.
“As a coach, you sometimes rely on your team to really set the stage of the importance of being prepared for the Beanpot. It's unique in the sense that it's Monday and the following Monday, but it's the same as going to your conference tournament or NCAAs in that you have to win two games in a row against great teams to win. It's a challenge but it's exciting.”
Like the ECAC’s second-place Crimson, BC enters the first round of the tournament on a high note after making the Friday trip to Connecticut and earning a 5-3 win, only its third in seven games. It’s been an up-and-down season for the Eagles overall, however, as they sit second to UMass in the Hockey East standings despite going 0-8 in non-conference play.
Northeastern and BU each dropped two-goal contests in Friday night’s league action, remaining two and three points, respectively, behind the Eagles in the league race.
“All four teams are playing pretty well and have a lot of guys who can make plays, so it should make for a really entertaining tournament,” said Harvard senior captain Lewis Zerter-Gossage, whose two Friday goals extended his team-leading total to 12. “You know these four teams are always going to put a good effort forward, and it's pretty much an open book as to what can happen. It’s two games, so you have to be ready and you can’t take a day off.”
No matter how the season is going, the first two Mondays of February can go a long way in turning a season around or just establishing momentum. Jerry York (Watertown, Mass.) knows a thing or two about creating momentum during what he likes to call “trophy season” as all four of his national championships at BC (2001, 2008, 2010, and 2012) came after winning the Beanpot.
For example, the last of those national championship teams was only four games above .500 (14-10-1) two weeks before the Beanpot opened, but the two Monday victories at TD Garden came in the early stages of a 19-game streak that ended with two triumphs at the Frozen Four.
“There's so much anticipation for the Beanpot every year, and it can work both ways; you could win and really get on a roll for the second half of the year, but you can also get stung by it and still get on a roll,” said York. “And it’s a good barometer as to how you can handle the anticipation, the rising to the occasion to win a trophy.”
In recent weeks, senior JD Dudek can see things starting to turn for the better for the 9-12-3 Eagles, who have not won a Beanpot since the Auburn, N.H., native was a freshman in 2016.
“We're definitely trying to keep the trends we're on even though some of these losses and ties don't look good on paper,” said Dudek. “We're doing a lot of things right in the games, so I think the goal scoring is going to come and the posts will go in for us. It's really just the right time for it to click for us. We're all excited.”
It’s just another game once the puck drops, but it’s hard not to get excited for a Super Bowl-like event for Boston’s teams.
“It’s bragging rights in the city for our four schools. It’s a really unique event and the chance to win a trophy in the middle of a year, which is really unheard of in hockey,” said first-year BU head coach Albie O’Connell (Watertown, Mass.). “It makes for something special.”
THE TEAMS
Boston College
2018-19: 9-12-3 (9-4-3 Hockey East, second place)
Friday: Boston College 5, UConn 3 in Hartford, Conn.
Top scorers: David Cotton, jr., F (15 goals, 24 points); Logan Hutsko, soph., F (12 assists); Michael Kim, sr., D (10 points)
Top goaltender: Joseph Woll, jr. (8-11-3, 2.32, .921)
NHL Draft picks: 12
2018 Beanpot finish: Fourth
Beanpot titles (last): 20 (2016)
All-time in Beanpot: 78-54
Last Beanpot MVP: Kevin Hayes (2014)
Boston University
2018-19: 10-11-3 (8-6-2 Hockey East, fifth place)
Friday: UMass 7, Boston University 5 at Agganis Arena
Top scorers: Joel Farabee, fr., F (23 points); Dante Fabbro, jr., D (17 assists); Bobo Carpenter, sr., F (North Reading, Mass.; 10 goals)
Top goaltender: Jake Oettinger, jr. (10-10-3, 2.72, .920)
NHL Draft picks: 12
2018 Beanpot finish: Second
Beanpot titles (last): 30 (2015)
All-time in Beanpot: 90-42
Last Beanpot MVP: Sean Maguire (2016)
Harvard
2018-19: 11-6-3 (8-5-2 ECAC, second place)
Friday: Harvard 4, Dartmouth 1 at Bright-Landry Hockey Center
Top scorers: Adam Fox, jr., D (20 assists, 27 points); Lewis Zerter-Gossage, sr., F (12 goals)
Top goaltender: Michael Lackey, sr. (11-5-3, 2.13, .927)
NHL Draft picks: 6
2018 Beanpot finish: Third
Beanpot titles (last): 11 (2017)
All-time in Beanpot: 55-77
Last Beanpot MVP: Nathan Krusko (2017)
Northeastern
2018-19: 15-8-1 (9-6-1 Hockey East, fourth place)
Friday: UMass Lowell 3, Northeastern 1 at Matthews Arena
Top scorers: Brandon Hawkins, sr., F (22 points); Jeremy Davies, jr., D (15 assists); Zach Solow (11 goals)
Top goaltender: Cayden Primeau, soph. (13-7-1, 2.42, .921)
NHL Draft picks: 6
2018 Beanpot finish: First
Beanpot titles (last): 5 (2018)
All-time in Beanpot: 41-91
Last Beanpot MVP: Adam Gaudette (2018)
