40th BEANPOT PREVIEW
HISTORY
The Beanpot Hockey Tournament has been played since 1952 by the four
DivI hockey schools in Boston: Boston College, Boston University, Harvard,
and Northeastern. It began in December, 1952, as the New England
Invitational although it never has been an invitational tournament except
for that first year. The Beanpot has been played in the Boston Garden
since the second Beanpot in 1954. That first tournament in 1952 was held
in the Boston Arena, now Northeastern's Matthews Arena, and was won by
Harvard.
The famous beanpot-shaped trophy is named the Edward J. Powers Memorial
Trophy, in honor of the longtime president of Boston Garden who was a
lifelong supporter of the tournament until his death in May, 1973. The
trophy stands 14 inches tall and weighs 26 pounds.
Over its history, the Beanpot has been held in four different months. The
first tourney was held in December. When the next season rolled around,
the tourney had been moved to the Garden and was played in January 1954.
In 1955, it was moved to February, and 1958 it began to be held with one
week between the opening round and the championship night. It is now
played on the traditional first two Mondays in February. That is, except
for 1978.
That was the year that the Northeast endured the memorable Blizzard of '78.
11,666 showed up at the Garden on February 6th despite the fact that Boston
was being pounded with a snowstorm that had begun earlier that day. It
would continue for days. After the second game was over, fans left the
Garden to find that T service had been brought to a grinding halt. Several
hundred, maybe a thousand fans were snowbound and spent several nights
living in the Garden along with two teams. The championship, scheduled for
February 13th, was postponed to March 1st - the only March Beanpot date.
This was really the year that the Beanpot gained widespread notoriety.
The Beanpot has been sold out long in advance since 1979 and has become
the premier college hockey event in New England, certainly one of the top
events in the nation. It is the only time during the year that college
hockey (usually) gets front page coverage by the Boston Globe and Boston
Herald, and the three major network affiliates - channels 4, 5, and 7 -
send their top reporters to the Garden to report live from the first game
during the 6:00 newscasts. In fact, most lead the 6 and 11:00 news with
the Beanpot.
For whatever reason, the Beanpot has been dominated by BU, recently at
least. The Terriers have won 16 Beanpots, five since 1982. BC has won
10, but none since 1983 and only two in the last 26 years. Harvard has
won 9, the last in 1989, and only two since 1978. Northeastern ranks at
the bottom with only 4 Beanpots - but after winning none in the tourney's
first 27 years, the Huskies won four in the 1980s - more than any other
team!
This Beanpot will mark an ending and a beginning for two coaches. BC's
Len Ceglarski will be coaching in his final Beanpot, his 19th. And NU's
Ben Smith will be behind the bench for his first.
In addition, 15 of the 24 players currently on the 1992 US Olympic Team
played in the Beanpot during their careers. Goalie Scott Gordon won the
Eberly Award as Most Outstanding Goaltender in 1986 with BC. Ted Donato
was the tourney's high scorer with 2-4--6 in 1989 for Harvard. I believe
Shawn McEachern was the MVP last year and high scorer for BU.
BEANPOT STATS
FINISHES TEAM vs TEAM
1st 2nd 3rd 4th BU BC HVD NU
BU 16 15 5 3 x 16-8 19-11 17-7
BC 10 9 15 5 8-16 x 13-11 23-7
Harvard 9 11 10 9 11-19 11-13 x 17-7
NU 4 4 9 22 7-17 7-23 7-17 x
TEAM STANDINGS OVERTIME (Last)
BU 52-26 3-4 (W vs NU 89)
BC 44-34 8-4 (W vs Harvard 87)
Harvard 39-39 6-5 (L vs BC 87)
NU 21-57 5-9 (L vs BU 89)
YEARS WON CHAMPIONSHIP
BU (58, 66-68, 70-73, 75, 78-79, 82, 86-87, 90-91)
BC (54, 56-57, 59, 61, 63-65, 76, 83)
Harvard (53, 55, 60, 62, 69, 74, 77, 81, 89)
NU (80, 84-85, 88)
BEANPOT COACHING RECORDS
COACH (SCHOOL - #, YEARS) W-L PCT FINISHES
Leon Abbott (BU - 1, 73) 2-0 1.000 1-0-0-0
Jack Kelley (BU - 10, 63-72) 15-5 .750 6-3-0-1
Jack Parker (BU - 18, 74- ) 25-11 .694 8-7-2-1
John "Snooks" Kelley (BC - 20, 52-72) 26-14 .650 8-2-8-2
Ralph "Cooney" Weiland (H - 19, 52-71) 22-16 .579 5-7-5-2
Harry Cleverly (BU - 10, 52-62) 10-10 .500 1-5-3-1
Len Ceglarski (BC - 19, 73- ) 18-20 .474 2-7-7-3
Bill Cleary (H - 19, 72-90) 17-21 .447 4-4-5-6
Fern Flaman (NU - 19, 71-89) 14-24 .368 4-2-5-8
Don McKenney (NU - 2, 90-91) 1-3 .250 0-0-1-1
James L. Bell (NU - 15, 56-70) 6-24 .200 0-2-4-9
Herb Gallagher (NU - 3, 52-55) 0-6 .000 0-0-0-3
Ronn Tomassoni (H - 1, 91- ) 0-2 .000 0-0-0-1
Ben Smith (NU - 0, first) 0-0 .000 0-0-0-0
TOURNEY RECORDS
GOALS
One Team, One Game: 15, BC vs NU, 1961 (15-1)
Two Teams, One Game: 17, BC (9) NU (8) OT 1973
Harvard (11) BC (6) 1974
BU (12) BC (5) 1978
One Team, One Period: 7, BC vs NU, 1961 (15-1)
One Team, One Tourney: 19, BC 1961 (15-1 & 4-2)
BU 1978 (12-5 & 7-1)
Lowest Score: 2-0, BC vs NU 1952
Harvard vs BC 1981
INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
GOALS
Period: 4, Bill Cleary (H) vs NU, 1955 (H 12-3)
Game: 5, Bill Cleary (H) vs NU, 1955 (H 12-3)
Ed Sullivan (BC) vs NU, 1961 (BC 15-1)
Mike Powers (BC) vs NU, 1973 (BC 9-8 OT)
Tourney: 7, Bill Cleary (H) 1955
ASSISTS
Game: 6, Billy Daley (BC) vs NU, 1961 (BC 15-1)
Tourney: 6, Billy Daley (BC) 1961
David Silk (BU) 1977
Herb Wakabayashi (BU) 1967
POINTS
Game: 7, Bill Cleary (H) vs NU, 1955 (H 12-3) 5-2--7
Tourney: 11, Bill Cleary (H) 1955 7-4--11
SAVES
Game: 52, Jim Barton (BC) vs BU, 1970 (BU 5-4)
Tourney: 91, Bill Fitzsimmons (H) 1965, allowed 8 goals
LAST BEANPOT SHUTOUT
1991, Tom Cole (NU) vs Harvard, 5-0, consolation
TEAM SHUTOUTS
Harvard: 4 for, 1 against
BC: 4 for, 2 against
NU: 2 for, 7 against
BU: 1 for, 1 against
MULTIPLE AWARD WINNERS
MVP: Bruce Racine, G, NU (85, 88)
Vic Stanfield, F, BU (73, 75)
John Cunniff, F, BU (64, 65)
(No player can add his name to the list this year.)
Eberly Award (Highest Goalie Save Pct): Bruce Racine, NU (85, 88)
Paul Skidmore, BC (76, 79)
40TH BEANPOT OUTLOOK
Northeastern vs Boston University: BU has tradition and coaching of Jack
Parker on its side. Scott Cashman led BU as a freshman two years ago.
And, the Terriers have dominated NU in the regular season. But you can
throw those regular season records away when it comes to the Beanpot.
The Huskies are playing some good hockey as of late despite their weak
record, and goalie Tom Cole, whose 51 saves against BC last year came one
save short of tying the Beanpot game record, looks to be in top shape
for the tourney. The small Garden ice surface is almost a carbon copy
of Northeastern's Matthews Arena, so it is just like playing at home
for the Hounds. I'll go with the underdog, NU, in a one-goal game
possibly decided in overtime. Also, the Huskies have won the Beanpot
each of the last three Olympic years (80, 84, 88), and they've gone
through BU to do it.
Harvard vs Boston College: Eagles would love to get a long sought-after
Beanpot win for Ceglarski in his final season. But they don't have the
firepower and are facing a tough Harvard squad with solid defense and
great goaltending from Allain Roy. If Franzosa and Beran come up big
and LaGrand plays much better than he has to date, the Eagles could
take a win - but I think Harvard will contain them in another close game.
Early Beanpot Final prediction: Northeastern over Harvard in an upset.
TV: Mon Feb 3: NESN 6 pm & 9 pm LIVE (first round); also taped later
Mon Feb 10: WSBK-TV38 8 pm LIVE (championship); also taped later on NESN
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Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
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