No detailed summaries or anything from this corner.  The Beanpot is
one of those times during the year that I take a break and enjoy being
a spectator.
 
Unfortunately, I thought this was the worst opening night I have seen
out of the nine straight I've attended, in terms of exciting action,
quality play, etc.  And it was also the first time the tournament
appeared on ESPN2.  I am sure many people around the country were
watching and wondering, "What's the big deal?"  This year, there was
not much of a big deal at all.
 
BOSTON UNIVERSITY (19-5-3) 6, NORTHEASTERN (12-11-4) 2
Once BU pulled ahead of NU 2-1 late in the first, I knew the game
was over.  NU's best hope was to grab the lead and somehow stay one
step ahead of the Terriers.  The Huskies had come out strong, but BU
gradually took control and held it firmly the rest of the way.  BU is
just that much better than any of the other four Boston schools this
year (2-0 vs BC, 1-0 vs Harvard, 3-1 vs NU).
 
The difference in BU now as opposed to earlier in the season is that
the defense has tightened up and shut down several high flying
opponents.  NU had come into the game with 21 goals in its last 3
games.  But BU defensemen were all over the ice in front of Herlofsky -
blocking shots, allowing little more than one man rushes, and quickly
getting things started the other way.  The Huskies were on the run all
night, usually without the puck.
 
For fans who haven't seen either BU or NU much this year, and may not
have been impressed by NU (though I thought they did not play too
badly), the truth is that the Huskies are a pretty good team, certainly
one capable of getting an NC$$ bid and going someplace.  But BU is
outstanding.
 
Northeastern has now lost seven straight Beanpot opening round games,
with their last win coming in 1988 (also the year of their last
Beanpot).  This comes after NU was the Beanpot Team of the 80s,
winning 4 'Pots after taking several decades to nab even their first
in 1980.
 
BOSTON COLLEGE (10-15-2) 7, HARVARD (11-8-1) 6
BC-Harvard may have been a meeting of two evenly matched but not very
good teams, but it provided more excitement than BU-NU.  Yet, with BC
holding leads of 4-0 after one and 5-1 in the second, I suspect many
viewers turned it off with the outcome seemingly not in doubt.
 
But Harvard would mount a furious comeback and dominate the final two
periods, falling just short at 7-6.  The comeback really didn't get
underway till a little before 11 pm, however, and by that time the
building was perhaps only 1/4 full and I am sure there were few tv
viewers as well.
 
Not a win BC can be too proud of.  Playing that way will get them
nowhere against BU.  The Eagles did benefit from emotion quite a bit
both in building the 4-0 lead and in holding on near the end, but a
more talented opponent like BU should be able to overcome that.  BC's
defense really struggled down the stretch and the result may have been
different if the game was five minutes longer.
 
Harvard played a very physical game from the start, which played into
BC's hands.  The Eagles were more than happy to knock heads with the
Crimson, and it resulted in a 10-6 shot advantage for BC after one
(and that 4-0 lead).  At that point, it seemed that Harvard decided to
try to skate more, and BC also decided that with a goaltender like
Taylor, four goals was enough to win.  Well, it wasn't.
 
On Tripp Tracy...his concentration wasn't there.  BC's 7th goal was
truly a huge one, besides being the game winner...Harvard was on their
way back and had cut the lead to 6-4.  But Tracy watched the puck go
wide and behind the net on his right side (thus he knew it was coming
back on his left), shifted over, and still couldn't stop Ryan Haggerty
who beat him short side, I believe.
 
Then with 1:10 left and the draw deep in the BC zone, Harvard coach
Ronn Tomassoni put his arm up to prepare to signal to the goaltender
when it was time to come off for an extra man.  When Harvard won the
draw, Tomassoni began waving Tracy in...then after a few seconds, he
looked and saw that Tracy was still in the net, watching the play up
ice!  The bench yelled to the goaltender and Tomassoni waved frantically,
at which point Tracy then skated off for the extra man, but perhaps
ten seconds had been lost - enough for BC to gain control and clear
the zone.
 
Still, I can't blame him on most of BC's goals...Harvard's defense
looked quite porous at times.  Despite the heavy shot advantage the
Crimson enjoyed in the game, they still surrendered 7 goals.  But
neither goaltender benefitted from defense tonight.
 
NEXT WEEK
Harvard-Northeastern is going to be a huge consolation game matchup.
This game will certainly have NC$$ tourney implications, as Harvard is
still alive but fighting with Princeton and Brown for what may be the
ECAC's only other bid.   Northeastern is also right in the thick of
things as a possible fourth HE entry.  It will be interesting to see
if the coaches can get their teams to believe that this game is as
important as it really seems to be.  Consolation games in the Beanpot,
like other tourneys, are notorious for being true bores, but this one
could be different.
 
At first glance, BC seems to have no hope against the Terriers, who are
playing their best hockey of the year.  It was just 17 days ago that
BU fired 65 shots on Taylor in easily beating the Eagles, 5-1.  But I
would have to agree with something Tony Biscardi mentioned last night -
BC's best chance is to come into the game fired up and believing that
like last season, they are destined to win.  BU has had the most
trouble with teams that gave emotional performances against them this
year (Maine, UNH, Merrimack, UML).
 
The Eagles also have to stay out of the box.  They were unable to do
this in the weekend series with BU a couple of weeks ago, and it cost
them.  If they play a hard but clean game (very rare when BC & BU
meet), and Taylor plays well in net, it will be a close and exciting
game.  But I don't expect this to happen.
 
ADDENDUM
The Beanpot usually has a number of happenings that occur involving
the rivalries between the schools, but things seemed to be abnormally
quiet this year.  However, best sign/t-shirt/slogan of the night has
to go once again to the BU fans, as several wore t-shirts that had the
BC symbol on it with the line,
 
"I went to BC on a hockey scholarship, and all I got was this lousy
t-shirt".
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93