Beanpot thoughts: How to succeed at Boston’s marquee tournament

Northeastern won the Beanpot at TD Garden in 2019. (Dave Arnold/NEHJ)

The Beanpot Tournament is feeling a little different these days.

Northeastern enters Monday’s start of the 68th annual edition as the two-time defending champion for the first time since the mid-1980s. When you add in Harvard’s title in 2017, it means that neither Boston College nor Boston University has won the trophy in a three-year span for the first time in tournament history.

While the pendulum has swung in favor of the traditional underdogs in recent years, it’s still the same old Beanpot. The tradition and rivalry between the four schools has remained constant since the tournament was first played at the old Boston Arena (now Northeastern’s Matthews Arena) in December 1952.