Harvard Loses in First Round Game of Beanpot for Eighth Consecutive Year

BOSTON—Entering this, the 54th annual Beanpot tournament, Boston University had won 11 consecutive first-round games. And in last night’s opener against Harvard in TD Banknorth Garden, the Terriers led for all but the first 83 seconds en route to a 5-3 triumph and yet another first-Monday-in-February victory.

“I thought we were ready for this,” said Crimson captain Peter Hafner. “I thought we were confident going in.”

But the numbers are cruel, really. There are the 12 straight first-round wins for Boston University—and 22 out of the last 23, if you keep counting—but there are also eight straight first-round losses for Harvard, so often the Beanpot’s whipping boy.

The Crimson (12-9-2, 9-7-1 ECAC) hasn’t been Boston’s Best since 1993, 13 long years ago. The Terriers (16-8-2, 13-6-1 Hockey East) have lifted nine trophies in that time alone, which is one less than Harvard’s title total since the tournament’s inception.

“I think it’s a factor more as an asset for [Boston University],” Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91 said of the Terriers’ win streak. “I personally didn’t feel any added pressure [because of it].”

“It’s been a while since we’ve won a first-round matchup,” he reasoned, “so there was some pressure there.”

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART

Though it ended the night on the losing end of a 5-3 score, Harvard outshot Boston University by a handy 41-26 margin.

But the Crimson skated off the ice for the first intermission down 2-1 and failed to make up ground with a four-shot second frame in which “guys were real tired,” Hafner said.

“We took a lot of penalties, spent a lot of time killing, and yeah, it really showed.”

The third period saw a recharged Harvard squad—one that peppered Terriers goalie John Curry with 25 pucks, scored twice, and nearly tied the game with a series of shots that found the goal’s posts and netting, but never its mouth.

“We turned the tables and tiled the ice in the third period, but it was too little, too late,” said Donato, who invoked his tried-and-true notion that “catch-up hockey is losing hockey.”

LET’S GO TO THE VIDEO

Boston University scored its fourth and game-winning goal with 1:34 left in the second frame, but the play was reviewed, and subsequent replays raised some questions.

The Terriers were skating with a 5-on-3 advantage when Jason Lawrence knocked the puck past screened goaltender John Daigneau, but a closer look revealed that an entire Boston University skate had been in the crease.

Current rules allow for a player to skate through the blue area so long as he does not obstruct with the play or affect the goaltender, but according to Donato, the Terrier did just that.

“Not only did the guy interfere with the goalie,” the coach said, “but he was in the crease for a large amount of time.”

Skating through the blue might be legitimate, he said “but you don’t have the right to set up shop in the crease.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.