Has the Beanpot left the Boston area kid behind? If you listen to some people, it has, and depending on where you look, they have a point.<\/p>\n
Last week, Boston University, long a bastion of Massachusetts-bred talent, advanced to the championship because of goals by Colby Cohen (Villanova, Pa.) and Alex Chiasson (St. Augustin, Quebec) along with 26 saves by Kieran Millan (Edmonton, Alberta).<\/p>\n
Whatever happened to Southie, Winthrop, and Reading?<\/p>\n
In fact, next year BU is expected to have more kids from California on its roster than Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
California? More kids than Massachusetts?<\/p>\n
Someone, however, forgot to tell Boston College, which defeated BU, 4-3, to take its second Beanpot title in three years. Of the Eagles who dressed for the championship game, 11 came from Massachusetts. Want to talk contributions? Let’s count the ways.<\/p>\n
Freshman Steven Whitney (Reading) scored a critical power-play goal to even the score early in the second, 1-1. Later in the period, another freshman, Chris Kreider (Boxford), dazzled by beating a BU defender one-on-one and then making a great move on Millan to stake the Eagles to a 3-1 lead. Barry Almeida (Springfield) scored a crucial insurance goal early in the third on a two-on-one.<\/p>\n
Assisting on the various goals were Bay State natives Brian Gibbons (Braintree), Matt Lombardi (Milton) and Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester).<\/p>\n
Tournament MVP John Muse (East Falmouth) stopped 31 shots and, combined with his shutout of Harvard in the opening round, earned the Eberly Award for best save percentage. <\/p>\n
“We’re always trying to win the recruiting wars in our backyard,” BC coach Jerry York said after the win. “That’s important for us.<\/p>\n
“A lot of our good players are right from this area. There was a down cycle for Massachusetts hockey for a while, but it’s starting to come up again.”<\/p>\n
Of course, geography is only one variable in the equation.<\/p>\n
“You also want to get the best players,” York said. “So if a boy is from California and he’s the best left wing, we’re going to try for that player.” <\/p>\n
Mindful of Matti Kaltiainen’s contributions just a handful of years ago, York added with a grin, “We’ll go to Finland for a goalie.”<\/p>\n
Perhaps, however, the overwhelmingly local flavor of the roster has been a factor in BC’s recent success, wresting away BU’s former stranglehold.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely special being local,” Stephen Whitney said. “You grow up watching it. You know how big it is. Everyone knows how special it is.”<\/p>\n
Just how special?<\/p>\n
How about a comparison with Team USA’s gold medal at the recently completed World Junior Tournament? Kreider enjoyed both.<\/p>\n
“This means everything to me,” Kreider said. “I grew up watching this. When I got my turn with the Pot, I took it immediately to my Mom. It’s an absolutely amazing feeling. <\/p>\n
“It’s right up there with winning the gold at the World Junior Tournament.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t say that the World Junior Tournament win doesn’t strike close to home, but for me growing up in the area, this was a really, really important tournament to me. This was one of the big factors when I was choosing which college I wanted to go to. I wanted to play in the Beanpot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Massachusetts players helped Boston College claim its 15th Beanpot title Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n