Beanpot (ice hockey)

The Beanpot is an ice hockey tournament among the four major college hockey schools of the Boston, Massachusetts area, held annually since the 1952–53 season.^[1] The tournament gives the winner bragging rights over its cross-town rivals, and the quest for this highly sought-after trophy is contested in front of frantic crowds from all four schools in annual sellouts.

Format

The competitors are:

• Boston University Terriers (51-time finalists, 30-time winners; last championship in 2015)
• Boston College Eagles (35-time finalists, 20-time winners; last championship in 2016)
• Harvard University Crimson (25-time finalists, 10-time winners; last championship in 1993)
• Northeastern University Huskies (17-time finalists, 4-time winners; last championship in 1988)^[2]

The tournament lasts two rounds, with first-round opponents being rotated from year to year. The second round features the consolation game and the championship game.

In addition to the tournament trophy, two individual awards are given out each year. The Eberly Trophy^[3] goes to the goaltender with the highest save percentage who plays in both of his team's games, while the Beanpot MVP^[4] is awarded to tournament's most valuable player.

History

The first Beanpot was contested at Boston Arena in December 1952. No tournament was played during the 1953 calendar year. The next two tournaments were held in January (1954 and 1955). All subsequent Beanpot games have been played in February (except 1978; see below).

The second through 43rd Beanpots (1954 through 1995) were held at the old Boston Garden. Since 1996, the Beanpot has been held at the Garden's replacement, currently called the TD Garden. The competition generally takes place on the first and second Mondays in February.

The 1978 Beanpot has taken a mythic place in Boston sports lore, as several hundred fans were stuck in the Garden for several days after the Blizzard of 1978 dumped more than two feet of snow during the night of the first round games. The championship and consolation games were moved to Wednesday, March 1.

Every championship game to date has featured either Boston College or Boston University, or both—Harvard and Northeastern have never met in the Beanpot final.

Boston College controlled the early years of the Beanpot, winning eight titles in the first thirteen tournaments, with Harvard taking four and BU just one. Between 1966 and 2009, however, the Boston University Terriers historically dominated the Beanpot, winning 28 out of 43 titles, prompting fans to nickname the contest the "BU Invitational". However, in recent years, the balance of power has again come under the Eagles of Boston College, who have won six titles in seven years between 2010–2016. In that stretch, BC won five consecutive titles from 2010-2014, losing out in the first round in 2015, and regaining the title most recently in 2016.

The beginning of BU's Beanpot dominance was also the first year on the ice for Jack Parker. Parker won titles in each of the three years he played for the Terriers, and after taking over as head coach in 1973–74, Parker won 21 more championships.

Wayne Turner with 1980 Beanpot

Northeastern, the only Beanpot team that has never won an NCAA hockey title, failed to win a Beanpot until 1980, when an overtime goal by Wayne Turner against Boston College gave the Huskies a win. Turner's wrist shot has often been called the most important goal in Northeastern history, and is generally considered the marquee sporting moment for the university. It is also known as the "Shot Heard Round the Beanpot".^[5]

Northeastern won three more titles in the 1980s, but has failed to capture the Beanpot since 1988. The Huskies came close to winning their fifth title in 2005 when they rallied from a 2–0 goal deficit to tie BU, but fell in overtime when Chris Bourque—son of former Boston Bruin Ray Bourque—scored the winning goal. They have made it to championship game four times in the past five years (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015) but fell to Boston College in 2011, 2013, and 2014 and to Boston University in 2015. The 2015 installment saw another close Northeastern loss, coming back from a 3–1 deficit in the 3rd to force overtime, but were defeated only 51 seconds into the extra period off a power play goal by Matt Grzelcyk.

It should also be noted that none of the four competing teams have won the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship without first winning the Beanpot trophy that season. With the exception of the 1949 Boston College Eagles (as the tournament had yet to be created), all five Boston University NCAA championships (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, 2009), Boston College's four other NCAA championships (2001, 2008, 2010, 2012), and Harvard's sole 1989 NCAA championship, were all accompanied by a victory in the Beanpot title game. Northeastern has not yet won an NCAA championship. This phenomenon has led fans of the Beanpot schools to believe dreams for a national title hold water if they indeed succeed in February. Boston College head coach Jerry York has often referred to the beginning of February as "Trophy Season," in which the Beanpot title is the first of three trophies that he wishes his team to attain, the others being the Hockey East tournament trophy, and the NCAA tournament trophy.

Recent tournaments

2009

The opening round of the 2009 tournament took place February 2. BU beat Harvard 4–3 after Harvard went up 2–0. Harvard scored what would have been the game-tying goal after regulation had expired, resulting in a BU victory. In the second game, Northeastern crushed BC 6–1. BU and Northeastern entered the Beanpot Championship on February 9 as the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country in the USA Today Men's Hockey Poll, making the 2009 Championship arguably one of the most anticipated Beanpot games ever played. BU won the game 5–2 thanks to three shorthanded goals.

2010

In the opening round of the 2010 tournament that took place February 1. BC beat Harvard 6–0. In the second game, BU beat Northeastern 2–1. BC and BU faced off on February 8 in the Championship game. BC beat BU 4–3 with a highlight goal scored by Chris Kreider earning the 15th Beanpot title for Boston College. John Muse earned both the Eberly Trophy and Beanpot MVP honors, stopping 64-of-67 shots (.955) in the two-game tournament to become the first BC goalie since Greg Taylor in 1994 to capture both honors.

2011

In the opening round of the 2011 tournament that took place February 7. Northeastern beat Harvard 4–0. In the second game, BC beat BU in overtime 3–2. BC and Northeastern faced off on February 14 in the championship game. BC won 7–6 in overtime with junior forward Jimmy Hayes netting the game-winner and sophomore Chris Kreider winning the tournament MVP earning the 16th Beanpot title for Boston College. This was the first time the Eagles won consecutive Beanpot crowns since winning three straight from 1963–65.

2012

In the opening round of the 2012 tournament that took place February 6. Boston University beat Harvard 3–1. In the second game, BC crushed Northeastern 7–1. BC and BU faced off on February 13 in the championship game. BC won 3–2 in overtime with sophomore forward Bill Arnold netting the game-winner with 6.4 seconds left and freshman forward Johnny Gaudreau winning the tournament MVP earning the 17th Beanpot title for Boston College. This was the first time the Eagles won three consecutive Beanpot crowns since winning three straight from 1963–65.

2013

In the opening round of the 2013 tournament that took place February 4. Northeastern beat Boston University 3–2. In the second game, BC beat Harvard 4–1. BC and Northeastern faced off on February 11 in the championship game. BC won 6–3 earning the 18th Beanpot title for Boston College. Northeastern's Kevin Roy being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and is the first person to be named MVP who did not play for the championship team since BU's Sean Fields in 2004. Parker Milner won the Eberly Award for having the best save percentage in the tournament. BC's senior class became the first class to go 8–0 and win four consecutive Beanpot titles. Similarly it was the first time in the history of the tournament that a BU graduating class (Class of 2013) graduated without at least one beapot win.

2014

The 2014 Beanpot took place on February 3 and 10. In the first round of the tournament, Northeastern defeated Harvard in a 6–0 rout and BC defeated BU 3–1. Harvard would defeat BU in the consolation round 6–2, marking the first time in tournament history that BU finished last in consecutive tournaments. In a rematch of the previous season's championship, BC defeated Northeastern by a score of 4–1. It was a tight 1–1 contest through two and three-quarter periods, but the Eagles pulled away with a deflection goal by senior captain Patrick Brown, who managed to redirect the puck while lying on his back. Kevin Hayes was named MVP and freshman Thatcher Demko was awarded the Eberly with the third highest save percentage (.966) in tournament history. BC earned its 5th consecutive championship and 19th in program history. BC's senior class became the second in school history to go 8–0 and perfect in the tournament, the first class being the previous year's senior class.

2015

The 2015 Beanpot took place on February 3 and 23, with both rounds being respectively delayed due to historically high snowfall. In the opening round of the tournament, Boston University defeated Harvard 4-3 in the second overtime after 82 minutes and 18 seconds of play with Terrier Danny O'Regan scoring the game-winning goal. During the course of the game the Terriers outshot Harvard 67-34. Northeastern University narrowly defeated Boston College 3-2 with the game-winning goal occurring with 1:34 left in the third period. This marked the first time since the 2008-09 season that BC has not won the tournament, while Northeastern made its third straight championship game appearance. BC would defeat Harvard 3–2 in overtime of the consolation game. In the Championship, BU won its 30th title with a thrilling 4–3 victory in overtime. Northeastern surged late, coming back from a 3–1 deficit in the 3rd to force another period, but a NU penalty only 9 seconds into OT gave BU a powerplay chance to win the game. Matt Grzelcyk converted 51 seconds into overtime to give the Terriers the trophy, earning him the Beanpot MVP award. Harvard's Steve Michalek was awarded the Eberly Award as the best goalie of the tournament.

This was the second tournament, the first being in 1987, that three of the four games went to an overtime period, including both the championship and consolation games.

2016

The 2016 Beanpot took place on February 1 and 8. The first round of the tournament saw Boston College defeat Harvard 3–2 and Boston University defeat Northeastern 3–1. Northeastern defeated Harvard 5–1 in the consolation game and, for the 22nd time in the history of the tournament, BC and BU competed for the Championship, with the Eagles winning a 1–0 overtime contest. This was BU's second consecutive title game and BC's first since winning five in a row from 2010-2014. Northeastern failed to make the title game for the first time since 2012, whereas Harvard has not been to the title game since 2008. The 1–0 Championship game was the first ever 1–0 result in the history of the tournament. The championship game was also the sixth of the last eleven title games to go to overtime.

Other Beanpots

The success of the men's ice hockey tournament has spawned "Beanpot" tournaments in other sports, including basketball, for 14 years ending in 1976, women's ice hockey, baseball (with the University of Massachusetts Amherst replacing Boston University, which does not offer varsity baseball), softball, men's and women's soccer, women's rowing (which also features MIT) and cycling.

The Women's Ice Hockey Beanpot takes place each year on the first two Tuesdays in February, one day after their male counterparts. Northeastern and Harvard have historically dominated the tournament, with 14 and 11 titles respectively, but Boston College has won the title two years in a row. Notably, they advanced to the 2007 final with a 4–3, triple overtime victory over nationally ranked Harvard, in a game that drew national attention. BC's freshman goalie Molly Schaus set an NCAA record with 73 saves in the contest. In recent years, an informal "Pep Band" beanpot has been held between the two games of the first round of the women's beanpot, with the bands from each school performing a unique piece.

The final round of the baseball Beanpot is played at Fenway Park.

A Beanpot for women's rowing was established in 2007, with the crews from Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University (Radcliffe), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Northeastern University competing.

The first Men's Lacrosse Beanpot was held October 19, 2008 at Harvard University. Harvard's Men's Club Team hosted Boston University, Boston College and Northeastern University.

There are also many non-athletic events attached to the Beanpot. These typically occur the same time of year as the hockey beanpot. There is a Concert Band Beanpot, Pep Band Beanpot, Beanpot of Comedy, and a Rice and Beanpot burrito-eating contest, sponsored by Qdoba. The Concert Band Beanpot and Beanpot of Comedy are non-competitive events.

Also, there is the B-School Beanpot Competition, an annual case analysis competition held at Boston University's School of Management since 1996. Undergraduate business schools from the Greater Boston area participate for cash prizes.

The Concert Band Beanpot and Rice and Beanpot participants are the same schools as the men's hockey tournament. The Beanpot of Comedy, hosted by NU & Improv'd of Northeastern University, features sketch and improvisational comedy groups from different schools each year. Past participants have included Boston College, Boston University, Salem State College, Suffolk University, Clark University, and Tufts University. The Business Beanpot participants are Babson College, Boston University, Bentley College, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. Northeastern University has won ten of the twelve Business Beanpots since 1996, and has taken the top two spots four times. The most recent 1–2 sweep for Northeastern was in 2008.

The Boston College Office of Undergraduate Admission and the Boston University Office of Undergraduate Admission also play in the annual Beancan softball tournament, usually held in July.

On September 26, 2014, the BBC reported that Boston mayor Marty Walsh announced publicly during an official visit to Belfast (Boston's sister city since 2014) that he was supporting a bid to hold a future Beanpot tournament at Odyssey Area in Belfast and that Walsh reportedly will be hosting a delegation from Belfast alongside representatives from the NCAA and the four beanpot schools in October 2014 to further discuss the possibility.^[6] However, after a large negative outcry from the Boston media, Walsh later stated that the idea of moving the tournament to a non-Boston venue was taken out of context, and that he only supported "the hosting of a "Beanpot-like" tournament in Belfast that would feature Massachusetts colleges." ^[7]

All-time results

Four games are listed for each Beanpot, in the order they were played. Each row represents one Beanpot. Champions are listed in bold. Games requiring one overtime are in pink  , while games requiring two or three overtimes are in chartreuse   and cyan  , respectively.

Source: Game information obtained from Beanpot official site.

NOTE: During the 2004–05 season, following Fleet's acquisition by Bank of America and the bank's decision to terminate the naming rights to the arena, there was no permanent naming rights sponsor for that season. It was known as "YourGarden" that year.

Team statistics

Through the 2015 Beanpot, the four teams have amassed the following statistics:

Source:^[8]

Individual awards

Two awards are presented annually: the Most Valuable Player award and the Eberly Award. The Eberly Award, first presented in 1974, is given annually to the goalie with the best save percentage. The winning goalie must participate in two games to qualify. The award is named after Glen and Dan Eberly, former Beanpot goaltenders at Boston University and Northeastern University, respectively.

Source:^[9]

See also

• College rivalry
• Boston College Eagles
• Boston University Terriers
• Harvard University Crimson
• Northeastern University Huskies

References

External links

• Beanpot Tournament
• Beanpot Tournament History and Timeline
• Beanpot trophy history

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