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.
The unique spectacle that Massachusetts natives grew up with and understand well annually drops the puck on the first Monday of February at TD Garden. (This year, that's Feb. 3; the second set of games are on Feb. 10.)
At the Beanpot Luncheon this week, the senior captains of each team offered advice on how to make the most of the tournament for college hockey bragging rights in Boston:
Playoffs come early
Around this time each season, Boston College coach Jerry York likes to bring back one of his favorite sayings: “It’s trophy season!”
It’s a fitting statement for the schools playing in the Beanpot. All four have aspirations of winning hockey games in March and April, whether it be in Hockey East, ECAC or national tournaments. Entering this weekend’s conference action, three of the four Beanpot teams find themselves in the top 20 of the PairWise Rankings, which mimic the NCAA tournament selection process (BC: 5th, Northeastern: 13th, Harvard: 20th).
With that said, the Beanpot offers a precursor to the playoffs with an added incentive down the line on the second Monday of February. That level of excitement is seldom matched during the regular season.
“It’s really the first time we’re able to get in that mindset during the season where the stakes are raised and you’re playing for something bigger, some hardware,” said BC’s David Cotton, a Texan who was introduced to the Beanpot during his two prep years at Cushing Academy.
“What it was for me as a freshman was starting to get into the game management and how you’re going to approach things. It’s a little bit different than when you play in a conference game or an early-season game because there’s just more emotion and higher stakes.”
Of course, the stakes are raised that much more for Cotton and his senior classmates as they take aim at a Beanpot for the final time. BC’s last tournament triumph came in 2016 — when Cotton was playing in the USHL — when it earned a 1-0 overtime win over the archrival Terriers.
Follow the leader
When current Harvard senior captain Nathan Krusko was a freshman, in 2017, he scored two goals and added an assist against BU to earn tournament Most Valuable Player honors as the Crimson won their first Beanpot title since 1993. (He also added an assist in that year’s semifinals against Northeastern, Harvard’s opponent in Monday’s first round.)
Current Northeastern sophomore Tyler Madden scored the overtime winner in last year’s semifinal against BU, while Cayden Primeau was the tournament’s top goaltender in both of his college seasons.
Freshmen or other unsung heroes — even ones from Alpharetta, Ga., which is where Krusko hails from — often find a way to have an impact on the tournament in a big way. Perhaps they just don’t know any better.
Krusko didn’t learn the true significance of the tournament until he talked to current Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman John Marino (Easton, Mass.) and other local teammates before he first stepped out on the Garden ice a few years ago. After experiencing three Beanpots as a player and the aftermath of a Harvard victory, he certainly knows now.
“I think guys respect the fact that I’ve already won it and they want to hear the opinion of what the atmosphere is like, how to play and all the little things,” Krusko said. “I just try to collect all the feelings and memories in order to explain what we have on the table to the rest of the guys in the room.
“The Beanpot is an opportunity to have a huge lasting victory that supersedes any sort of individual successes that you may have either this year or down the line.”
Krusko is the only current Harvard skater who played in the team’s last Beanpot meeting with Northeastern. He had played in 120 collegiate games entering Friday, 35 more than any other player on the Crimson.
Keep it simple
Although the Beanpot is played at a National Hockey League building in front of season-high crowds, it’s really just another hockey game. There is a trophy on the line, but keeping things simple is best.
Like Krusko, BU’s Patrick Curry didn’t dream of playing in the Beanpot while he was growing up in Schaumburg, Ill. However, his experience in six games in the tournament has helped to prepare the team’s 13 freshmen who have never experienced it before.
“The main message would probably be just to stay in the moment,” Curry said. “There can be a lot of distractions in these types of games, and sometimes the magnitude of the game can get the better of some guys. We just need to make sure that everybody stays calm, collected, plays as a team and hopefully we’ll get the bounces and play well enough to hoist the Beanpot.”
Northeastern defenseman Ryan Shea’s (Milton, Mass.) job is similar as the Huskies dress a substantial number of their 12 freshmen each night. The past two teams Shea has been on have been complete units that came to play for 60 minutes or more on both Beanpot nights.
“We showed that it takes every guy,” said Shea, who helped the Huskies win their second Hockey East title in four years at the Garden last March. Two years ago, Shea added, his team was successful because of the big first line of Dylan Sikura, Adam Gaudette and Nolan Stevens.
“Last year we had great goaltending, a great D corps and a lot of scoring from guys that you might not expect it from. When it becomes February, we've come together and we know how to play here.”
“The Beanpot is just two games, right? Any team can win,” said Krusko. “It’s not easy to get a sweep or win back-to-back games, but one team is going to do it. We just say, ‘Why not us?’”
Easier said than done, of course, but the Beanpot is a team game just like any other.
Focus on the task at hand
The first two Mondays of February are important and can create lifetime memories for the players. However, looking ahead is not an option as all four teams continue their critical conference races on the Fridays before the Beanpot games.
Harvard sits three points out of first in the ECAC standings while BC, BU and Northeastern are all within three points of each other from second to sixth place in Hockey East.
Every game means something with just about a month to go in the regular season but, in reality, getting two points on Friday helps the chase for bigger trophies even more than two points on the non-conference Beanpot Mondays.
“It’s really tough not to look ahead, especially as an older guy knowing what a big deal the Beanpot is,” Krusko said. “I think I was a little bit in the dark my freshman year, which kind of helped me not to look ahead. The two points are absolutely crucial. Knowing what comes Monday, it’s just so big that it has some complications to it, but we just focus on one game at a time.”
“That’s how we’ve been approaching it all year,” Cotton said. “You can’t really look too far ahead, or you’ll get in trouble. It won’t be any different over these two weeks.”
