ACTION JACKSON: Unusual Suspects Continue BU Streak

BOSTON—In a game featuring 26 NHL draft picks and played in an NHL rink, it was a pair of undrafted, 5’10 defensemen who were the real pros.

The defensive pairing of Terriers captain Freddy Meyer and sophomore Bryan Miller were the difference last night, at both ends of the ice.

The duo accounted for both BU goals, three points, 8-of-12 penalty minutes and were a combined plus four.

Every time you saw a great hit, a good defensive stop or a fabulous individual effort, it was pretty safe to say either Meyer or Miller were nearby.

When the Terriers were trailing, it was Miller who responded. Jumping up on the rush, he slipped the puck through the legs of Harvard’s Noah Welch, stepped around him, went in alone and snapped glove side over sophomore Dov Grumet-Morris.

And he’s a defenseman.

If this were Tyler Kolarik or Dominic Moore for Harvard or the Terriers’ John Sabo, maybe you would have expected that kind of move.

Maybe if Welch were not 6’4, 212 lbs. and capable of crushing Miller you could have expected it.

But some things in this game just did not make sense. When Meyer drilled Welch into the BU bench in the crucial final minutes of the game, and Welch proceeded to limp around the ice favoring his shoulder, it didn’t make sense. Welch has six inches and 20-30 lbs. on Meyer.

It was a microcosm for the game. At No. 13 in the country Harvard is ranked higher than No. 14 BU, but the Terriers were still clear favorites. The Crimson was a perfect 12-0-0 when scoring first entering last night. Harvard scored first. Now the Crimson is 12-1-0 after opening the scoring.

It is rare when a post-game press conference reveals more about a team than the action on the ice. But just listen to BU and Harvard talk, and you quickly understand a little bit more about how they play.

Logic has little to do with how Meyer thinks or how BU keeps winning in the Beanpot.

When asked about the Boston College-Northeastern semifinal, Meyer was quick to comment.

“We are going to be up in the stands rooting for BC right after we get out of the locker room,” Meyer said. “We want to be playing BC not Northeastern in the final. BC is a great team, and we want some respect back.”

Eventually BU coach Jack Parker just had to cut Meyer off.

“That is a real nice quote if Northeastern wins—isn’t it Freddy,” he said.

But it would have been interesting if Parker had just let Meyer continue.

When you are one win away from your third Beanpot title, what kind of player wants to play the No. 6 team in the country? Especially when you are 0-3 against BC and 3-0 against Northeastern this season.

It is probably the kind of player who thinks he is going to win regardless of the team on the other bench.

It is probably someone who plays for a team that has won 17 of its last 18 Beanpot games (BU) instead of a squad that has lost 15 of its last 17 (Harvard).

“If you flip a coin enough times, it is eventually going have to come up tails and you’ll lose,” Parker said. “It just doesn’t seem to come up tails for us.”

Funnier still, Parker says it all with a straight face. He believes it.

In a tight game in which his team trailed 1-0 at one point, Parker denied he ever thought the game’s ultimate result was in doubt.

“It was a tight game, but at no time did I ever think we were in trouble,” Parker said. “Even with penalties, our defense was just great. We didn’t bring our A game…but we still won.”

And that is what’s important.

Contrast that with what Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said after the game.

“It was a great college hockey game,” Mazzoleni said. “I told these guys after the game that I could not have been prouder of them. You had two great teams playing hard for 60 minutes. It could have gone either way.”

Sure it could have gone either way. Harvard was talented enough to win, worked hard enough to win, had enough scoring chances to win and just didn’t win.

So how can it be a great game?

You played hard, did everything right and still lost. Well that’s encouraging.

At least if you’re lazy, sloppy, untalented and undisciplined you have something to work on, somewhere to improve.

It had to be a pretty terrible game if you were Harvard. You did almost everything right and still lost.

At least according to their coach, the Terriers didn’t do everything right but they still won. Now that’s really an encouraging situation.

Parker and Meyer and the rest of the BU players know they at least deserve to be in the final every year. They own this tournament.

“I hate playing in consolation games,” Meyer said. “There are no fans. We just weren’t willing to play in a consolation game this year.”

“I’m not sure we deserved to reach the Beanpot final for the last three years,” Mazzoleni said.

Maybe that’s the difference.

Despite the talent on both teams, BU knows they belong, and Harvard may not be quite sure. There’s something to be said for tradition and history. Winning breeds winning. Losing just breeds a lot of moral victories and excuses.

Harvard is definitely rounding the corner. The improvements in recruiting and performance on the ice are undeniable over the past four years under Mazzoleni’s tenure.

The Beanpot just happens to be an unpleasant reminder of how far the Crimson may still have to go and how hard winning traditions are to rebuild.

Changing the players is not enough to build a winning program. Building a program takes time.

Explaining BU’s dominance at the Beanpot, Parker probably summed it up best.

“There is not as much pressure when you’ve won seven of your last eight Beanpots,” he said. “Compared to a team who has not won in nine years, it is no big deal if you don’t win one year. It means you keep your poise under pressure. When the crowd gets in it in the third period, you stick to your game plan and you win.”

—Staff writer Timothy Jackson can be reached at jackson2@fas.harvard.edu.