By: Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff
Those watching Monday night’s Beanpot finale between Northeastern and Boston College witnessed something special.
The game featured a team that hasn’t won the tournament in 23 years and a team which has now won three of the last four; a team with a losing record, and the No. 1-ranked team in the nation. There were five lead changes, 19 penalties, and 13 goals – the third-highest total in the tournament’s 59 years of existence, which is of particular interest since the game featured two of the top-ranked goalies and defenses in the NCAA.
And whether fans were parading around Kelley Rink into the late hours of the night or sulking and talking what-ifs over cold beer at Conor Larkin’s, attempting to argue that the 7-6 Eagles’ victory wasn’t aesthetically pleasing would have been like trying to outsmart a Vegas slot machine.
“I’ve been in a lot of big games,” Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin said. “The national championship games … gold-medal games, World Juniors, Stanley Cup playoff games. And that game had more drama and back-and-forth character.”
Boston College had to fight back from three deficits, score seven goals against NU sophomore goaltender Chris Rawlings – who entered the game ranked No. 3 in the nation with a .934 save percentage – and skate three and a half periods of perhaps its best hockey of the season to reclaim city bragging rights.
“That game was different,” said BC coach Jerry York, who has played for the title 10 times in his 16 years on the Eagles’ bench. “Last Monday [a 3-2 OT victory in the first round] with BU was very exciting, but this was almost double the level of excitement. We’ve had to win this in a lot of different ways. It was a strange game, but an exciting game.”
No longer the ‘BU Invitational’
“I said this when I got here six years ago,” Cronin said. “This tournament is the biggest thing the kids will see in terms of attendance, passion, enthusiasm, energy, the history; all those things. And with a team like Northeastern, I keep saying this: They’re like the Red Sox before they won the World Series [in 2004], just waiting to win one.”
The Huskies had beaten BC only once in the Beanpot finale, a 5-4 overtime win for the program’s first taste of the trophy back in 1980. Northeastern won it four times in the ’80s, but hasn’t been able to recapture the glory since 1988.
The tournament has since been referred to as the ‘BU Invitational,’ as Jack Parker’s Terriers have won 15 times in the past 23 years.
But for the first time since 1980, not only did BU fail to qualify for the championship game, but the No. 15 Terriers finished in fourth place, falling 5-4 at the hands of a Harvard team that had won just once since New Year’s Day.
“That was,” Parker began to say, pausing in obvious disgust, “an embarrassing display by my team. Give Harvard credit; they competed to the end. It was a very, very disappointing loss and it will come back to haunt us. That win doesn’t mean a lot to Harvard; that loss means a lot to us.”
Harvard’s first Beanpot victory over BU since 1994, combined with Northeastern’s ability to skate toe-to-toe with the Eagles for 66 minutes in the night cap, might have signaled a return to competitive balance in a tournament that has featured a BC-BU final seven times in 12 years.
“Northeastern is really coming on strong now, so they’re going to be a factor as long as [Greg Cronin is] there and they have the leadership from him,” York said.
“This one stings”
Right after forward Jimmy Hayes poked the puck into a half-empty net to clinch the trophy for Boston College, the airwaves in TD Garden were cluttered with sounds of celebration, as well as those of extreme disappointment.
Northeastern has become increasingly attached to the latter over the past few seasons, flashing signs of a dominant program before letting them slip away when it seems to matter most.
When the Huskies reached as high as No. 2 in the national polls during their break-out season of 2008-09 – with a team that featured forward Joe Vitale, currently on the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Hobey Baker Trophy-nominated Brad Thiessen, the starting goalie for the Penguins AHL affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – they seemed to have lit a flame on Huntington Avenue, and Northeastern fans packed Matthews Arena to its 4,666 capacity on a regular basis.
But even then, Cronin’s squad barely tasted success before it was ousted in Hockey East semifinals to University of Massachusetts-Lowell, bounced out of the NCAA tournament in a first-round shocker to Cornell, and once again sent back to campus Beanpot-less following a 5-2 loss to Boston University in the title game.
“Unfortunately, those were the memories for a lot of Northeastern people over the last 20 years,” Cronin said last week. “The near-misses.”
Monday night’s loss to BC only added to the pain.
“It definitely stings,” Rawlings said.
To some, this game served as a reminder of the difficulty that comes with earning a trophy coveted by four of the nation’s most respected Division I programs.
Until this year, BC hadn’t managed back-to-back Beanpot wins since 1965.
“It’s a hard tournament to win,” York said. “College hockey is a strange beast.”
For Northeastern, the wait will have to continue, and the Huskies can find comfort in the cliché for at least one more season: There’s always next year.
