David H. HendricksonTwo years ago, it was unprecedented. Boston University’s Class of 1998 became the first seniors in history to graduate with four Beanpot titles when the Terriers defeated Harvard in overtime, 2-1. Last year, it was unexpected. BU would eventually record its first losing record in the ’90s, but completed the Battle of Boston sweep for … Read more
Beanpot Final: The Killer Bs This Monday, it’ll be The Killer Bs — BC and BU — meeting in a dream Beanpot championship game. The Commonwealth Avenue archrivals advanced with an unprecedented pair of first-round shutouts, Boston College blanking Northeastern, 6-0, and Boston University over Harvard, 4-0. The Valentine’s Day tilt will be the 14th … Read more
If you heard that a Boston College Eagle netted a hat trick in the Beanpot, there’d be a few likely possibilities. Brian Gionta, Jeff Farkas or Blake Bellefeuille would be the obvious candidates. Or perhaps Mike Lephart, defenseman-turned-forward Marty Hughes or Jeff Giuliano. Maybe even a member of the highly-skilled BC defensive corps. But rather … Read more
On Nov. 27, 1999, he became only the fourth coach in college hockey history to record 600 wins. In 27 years at Boston University, he’s had only five losing seasons while posting 17 (soon to be 18) 20-win campaigns, 16 NCAA appearances, 10 Hockey East and ECAC titles, and two national championships. He’s a two-time … Read more
The First Two Mondays In February The 48th Beanpot Tournament is shaping up as potentially one of the best in a long time. "This particular year, all four teams playing have a realistic chance to join the 12 teams in the national tournament in March," says BC coach Jerry York. "That makes this tournament a … Read more
Strength of Schedule It was late October and UMass-Lowell had just defeated Northeastern after returning from three road losses to Michigan and Rensselaer, both teams that have spent virtually the entire season in the Top 10. “Who’s the idiot who made up this schedule?” asked one writer, tongue-in-cheek. “That would be me,” answered River Hawk … Read more
Double Dipping Looking at the action across the country this week, four games involve Top 10 teams playing each other. All four are in Hockey East. #1 UNH faces #6 Boston University in a home-and-home series, while #5 Maine hosts #9 Boston College for two at Alfond Arena. VCRs should be whirring since the three … Read more
The Playoff Race It’s only January, but the playoff outlook is already more and more fascinating. Hockey East put four teams in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online Top 10: #1 UNH, #5 Maine, #6 BU and #9 BC. When you add in Northeastern, which also garnered support, and look at its third-place position in … Read more
Keefe’s Departure It was not a good week for the Providence College hockey team. First, UMass-Amherst swept the Friars, who had been making a strong bid for Top 10 consideration, 2-1 and 3-1. Then, on Tuesday, they announced that senior Jerry Keefe was leaving the team for personal reasons. Last year, Keefe led the high-flying … Read more
Parity Without Mediocrity "Our league is a war." —PC coach Paul Pooley Check out this week’s poll. Not only did three Hockey East teams make the Top 10 — #1 New Hampshire, #3 Maine and #10 Boston College — but three more received votes: Boston University, Providence College and Northeastern. When two-thirds of the league … Read more
A Game Every Day Hockey East fans who went into withdrawal during the recent holiday break will be delighted with the upcoming slate of games. Delighted, that is, if they have their own private Lear jet to crisscross the country since, unfortunately, many of the games are a long hike from New England. Fans whose … Read more
How ’bout Them Huskies? After Northeastern administered the first loss of the season to top-ranked Maine last Friday, coach Bruce Crowder stood outside the Husky locker room and talked to the media. "You have a number-one team coming into the building that hasn’t had a loss," he said. "You’d be a village idiot not to … Read more
Hockey East Goes 13-1-1 After a slow start in nonconference play earlier this year, Hockey East took no prisoners during Thanksgiving week, posting a 13-1-1 record. Ironically, Maine and Boston College, expected to be two of the league’s bellwether teams, made no contributions to the dominance since both clubs were off. Hockey East delivered its … Read more
Before the year started, Hockey East coaches, not to mention this writer, picked Merrimack to finish last. It seemed eminently reasonable. The Warriors had come within one point of finishing in the cellar last season and that was before losing All-Hockey East center Rejean Stringer (56 points) and Kris Porter (45). “Being picked last in … Read more
Wild Weekend Until Sunday’s Maine-BC tilt, every single Hockey East game last week was either decided by one goal or ended in a tie. Yet despite the nip-and-tuck battles, UNH swept all four weekend points while Maine, Northeastern, Boston University and Merrimack took three of four. At the other end of the spectrum, Boston College … Read more
What’s Wrong With UNH? or Step Back From That Ledge, My Friend What a difference a couple weeks can make. Just 14 days ago, the Wildcats held a 3-0-0 record, a number-five ranking nationally and were scoring at a rate of over five goals per game. Now, following a 6-0 whitewashing administered by RPI, 2-1 … Read more
… is going on with Hockey East goaltending? Hasek, a consensus choice as the world’s top netminder, opened the National Hockey League season with a 1-4-1 record and enough poor performances to earn a seat on the end of the bench. He then returned to action and promptly tore a groin muscle, an injury that … Read more
A New Number One Hockey East lost one number-one ranking over the weekend, but picked up another. Boston College’s split with Minnesota — more on that later — not only knocked the Eagles from the ranks of the undefeated, it also toppled them from the top spot in the rankings for the first time this … Read more
In an ideal world, the ceremony would have been to commemorate Travis Roy’s All-America plaque joining the pantheon of BU greats at the entrance to Walter Brown Arena. In an ideal world, the extended ovation and chants of “Travis! Travis! Travis!” would have brought only smiles and not a pungent mixture of smiles and salty … Read more
Travis Roy Jersey Retirement The latest chapter in the Travis Roy story will be played out at Walter Brown Arena this Saturday when Boston University retires his number. The unprecedented tribute will take place during pregame ceremonies that will also include the hoisting of another Beanpot championship banner. "We’ve never retired a number here," says … Read more