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 --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com