It's The Beanpot

Hear any good Northeastern jokes lately? How about the Husky defenseman who brought a rod and reel on the ice...for fishing the puck out of the net? That one hasn't been around for a while, not since last year. That's what The Beanpot can do.

And the Billy Cleary rumors have stopped. One of the more plausible drifting to these parts earlier in the season had Cleary retiring because of poor health and Yale's Tim Taylor, a former Crimson player and assistant coach, returning to Cambridge as head man. That one fizzled out last week. That's what The Beanpot can do.

The Beanpot is the panacea for Boston-area hockey programs. Win one, and the whole school gets a boost. Three high school seniors attended the tournament last year, guests of Northeastern. They watched the Huskies take the trophy, and now they're part of the pack that has transformed last year's 7-20 squad into a national power. That's what The Beanpot can do.

The Beanpot is the spotlight. Everyone comes to watch, from Ed King (when he's not governing) to Jim Craig (when he's not goaltending). Craig sat there unnoticed last week, watching the games that made him a household name around here long before anyone had heard of Neal Broten, Ken Morrow or Mark Johnson. That's what The Beanpot can do.

Out-of-towners learn about it quickly. "I'm from the midwest," said B.C.'s Mark Switaj, who hails from Ohio, "and we have no idea what this means out there." But three years in Boston, and Switaj understands: "It can make or break a season," he said. That's what the Beanpot can do.

Little old ladies fear the second Monday night in February. They shun North Station, they stay away from the Garden. They know that some 15,000 frenzied college kids will pour onto Causeway Street shortly before the witching hour, half of them shouting and half of them scowling, and all of them loud and ready to fight. They know that at one of the 200 campuses that dot the metropolitan area, it will be a long night, a long, loud night. That's what The Beanpot can do.

Ask Chris Nilan about The Beanpot. He's a former Husky defenseman who happened to play a great game during last year's classic. He's traded in his red and white uniform for rouge, bleu and blanc. Now, Nilan skates for the Montreal Canadiens, one of a dozen NHL clubs that send scouts to the Garden every February. That's what The Beanpot can do.

Ask Mark Fusco, or Billy O'Dwyer, or any of the Boston-area kids on the ice tonight. They'll tell you that, sure, they'd like to make the playoffs, and, yeah, they'd love to win the ECACs. But the top sporting event in town is tonight, brother. Ask Fusco. Ask O'Dwyer. The season begins and ends... That's what The Beanpot can do.

There is certainly a case for The Beanpot as the top sports event in the city. Nothing else, not the Celtics, not the Bruins, not the Red Sox or Patriots, not even The Game matches the action of the Beanpot final, year after year. The Celtics and Bruins can miss the playoffs, the Sox and Pats can fall flat and be out of it midway through the season. But throw four college hockey teams together before the inevitable packed house twice every February, and grown men cry, babies shriek, mature college students from prestigious Eastern institutions scream, swept up in the agony and ecstasy of an interfraternal encounter of the emotion-packed, frenzied kind. That's what The Beanpot will do, when Boston College plays Harvard in the finals, tonight at 8 p.m.

It's the once-a-year night. It's The Party, The Prom, The Carnival, The Game, The Event. It's the Dancing-in-the-Streets Night, the Crying-in-your-Beer Night, the night when, for six hours, Boston becomes a hockey jamboree. It's The Beanpot. See you on the T, sports....