Beanpot Scheduling Is Unfair to Harvard

To the Editors of The Crimson:

As we watch Harvard hockey players starring at the Olympics, read the news stories about them or listen to B. Lane MacDonald's '88-'89 commentary, the word "Beanpot" recurs because a number of the players are alumni of the Beanpot teams.

This is not a pleasing reference because the Beanpot has become a painful subject for any Harvard hockey fan who would like to see something done about the outrageous farce that the Beanpot tournament has become.

Since 1984, the year that Hockey East split away from the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), three of the teams--Boston University, Boston College and Northeastern--have played only one game on the weekend before the Beanpot, while Harvard, somehow imprisoned in the ECAC schedule, has had to play two. The result has been that Harvard teams--often among the best in the country--come into the tournament tired and are customarily trounced by the more rested opposition. Most of those years Harvard hasn't even advanced past the first round. True, the Crimson won it in 1989, but that was a national championship team.

Even BU coach Jack Parker is a bit embarrassed. After the last Beanpot he said. "We were fortunate that Harvard played two games over the weekend and we only played one." The word "fortunate" implies that this was some kind of lucky break for BU. Hardly. It happens every year.

Bill Cleary was a great hockey coach, one of the greatest. I assume that when he was coach he could do nothing about the Beanpot. Now he is athletic director and presumably has the power to tell BU, BC and Northeastern something like the following: "We love the Beanpot, but we love fair play even more. Schedule games on the Friday and Saturday before the Beanpot, just as we must, and we will be happy to meet you on Monday. Otherwise, no deal." Nothing complicated or difficult about that.

I appeal to The Crimson to take up the cause. The hockey team, which has suffered on so many Beanpot Mondays, will love you for it. And so will some of us alumni, who love and applaud the hockey team and sometimes suffer along with it. John C. Cort '35