Beanpot (ice hockey)

The competitors are:

• Boston University Terriers (54-time finalists, 30-time winners; last championship in 2015)
• Boston College Eagles (36-time finalists, 20-time winners; last championship in 2016)
• Harvard University Crimson (26-time finalists, 11-time winners; last championship in 2017)
• Northeastern University Huskies (20-time finalists, 7-time winners; last championship in 2020)[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.

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 tournament quickly outgrew the 4,500 seating capacity of the Boston Arena and 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, the 17,500 seat TD Garden. The competition generally takes place on the first and second Mondays in February and often draws one of the largest crowds of the college hockey season outside of the Frozen Four.[5]

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.

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.

Since the Beanpots' 1952 inception, the team rosters, once dominated by New Englanders and Canadians, have gradually evolved to include a greater cross section of the United States as well as other countries. The 2020 Beanpot included players from Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, and Texas. Reflecting a trend across college hockey, where 117 European students were playing at the NCAA Division I level in 2020, the Boston University Terriers roster included Kasper Kotkansalo from Finland and Wilmer Skoog from Sweden who scored the winning goal in Boston University's overtime goal in their upset win against Boston College in the 2020 Beanpot semi-final. After the game, Skoog said "It was the biggest game of my life."[5]

Northeastern

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".[6]

Northeastern won three more titles in the 1980s, but failed to capture the Beanpot for 30 years. 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 scored the winning goal. They made it to championship game four times from 2011-2015 but fell each time, to Boston College in '11, '13, and '14 and to Boston University in '15.

Northeastern won their drought-breaking championship in 2018 with a dominating 5–2 victory over BU, in a rare year where the Huskies were the strongest team in the field, having come into the tournament ranked highest in the pairwise over the other three Beanpot schools. This would be the case again in 2019, where Northeastern again won the championship with a 4–2 victory over BC. In 2020, the Huskies would win their third straight championship against BU in double overtime, solidifying their legacy as a 21st-century Beanpot dynasty and effectively ending their reputation as the underdogs of the tournament. Before 2018, the Huskies had been to only 17 title games, and won only 4 of those. Earning three championships in a row from 2018-2020 proved their newfound parity with their other Beanpot schools, as they hope to continue their success in the coming years.

This section explains in detail the results of the previous five Beanpot tournaments as of February 2020.

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. Maggie Brennolt was a back to back Beanpot Champ, beating Harvard.

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.[7] 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." [8]

Four games are listed for each Beanpot, in the order they were played. There are two opening round games, a consolation game featuring the losers of the first two games, and a championship game featuring the winners of the first two games. The teams rotate opening round opponents on a 3-year cycle, so over history every team faces the others an equal number of times during the opening round. 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.

† 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.

‡ Per NCAA rules, the 2020 contests between BU and BC, as well as the championship between BU and Northeastern were officially ruled 4–4 ties. In both games, the teams played a scoreless 5-minute overtime period before continuing the game for placement purposes. The Terriers advanced against Boston College in the first round, and the Huskies won the title in the championship game against BU, both respectively by scoring in the second overtime period.

Through the 2020 Beanpot, the four teams have amassed the following statistics:

Note: Unofficial statistics are included (As of 2019–20, all tournaments games played past 5 minutes of overtime are considered ties per NCAA rules, and all statistics are not counted)

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:[12]

Note: Unofficial statistics are included (As of 2019–20, all tournaments games played past 5 minutes of overtime are considered ties per NCAA rules, and all statistics are not counted)

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

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