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BOSTON - The No. 6 Terriers (17-8-2, 14-6-1 HE) will look for their 27th Beanpot title on Monday night versus archrival No. 5 Boston College (19-6-2, 16-4-1 HE) at the TD Banknorth Garden after skating to a 5-3 win versus Harvard in the first round. The Terriers won this season's series with the Eagles, posting a 2-1-0 record in three games. Fans who do not have a seat in the TD Banknorth Garden for the game can head to Game On! Sports Cafe at Fenway Park to see all the action live.
BU and BC have met in the final 17 times (and have never met in the consolation), including four of the last six years. BU holds the 10-7 edge in the championship, with a 25-10 overall advantage in the tournament. The coveted trophy has gone to one of the Comm. Ave. schools in each of the last 12 years, with the Terriers taking the title nine of those times. BU is riding a national-best 10-game win streak and is hot off a 3-0 shutout of UMass on Friday night, while BC has won 10 of its last 12 match-ups and bested Providence, 8-3, on Friday.
Last Monday night, in front of 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden, the Terriers withstood a late Harvard rally and used a three-point night from freshman Jason Lawrence to post a 5-3 victory in the Beanpot’s opening round. BU held the lead throughout the contest and took a 4-1 advantage into the final period. However, the Crimson scored twice in the third and threatened to knot the contest in the final minute of regulation before the Terriers finished off the victory on an empty-netter with 6.7 ticks left on the clock.
During the first 53 years of the Beanpot tournament, the defending champion Terriers have won it an unparalleled 26 times, the most recent coming last year when they skated to a 2-1 win over BC in the opening round and then a 3-2 overtime victory over Northeastern in the title game. After winning the Beanpot just once in the 50s and three times in the 60s, BU has won it 22 times in the last 36 years, including nine of the last 11. The next most successful school in the tournament is BC, which has only won the coveted trophy half as many times as BU (13). Next is Harvard with 10 titles, and finally Northeastern has lifted the Pot o’ Beans just four times and not since 1988.
The Terriers are in the Beanpot title game for the 12th consecutive year and 22nd time in the last 23 years. Since 1984, the only year BU didn’t reach the finals was in 1994 when they were defeated by Harvard, 4-2, in the opening round. Even more amazing is that BU has now been in the title game in 39 of the last 43 years and 45 times in the 54-year history of the tournament. The Terriers have won the title 26 times, have 18 second-place finishes, six third-place finishes and three fourth-place finishes. The last year they finished fourth was in 1980, while they haven’t finished worst than second in the last 11 years.
The Terriers come into this year’s final with an all-time Beanpot record of 77-30 (.720). They are 25-10 (.714) vs. Boston College, 25-13 (.658) vs. Harvard, and 27-7 (.794) vs. Northeastern. In the finals, BU is 26-18 (.591).
BU and BC have met 230 times and the Terriers lead the series, 116-99-15 (.537). BU began playing hockey during the 1917-18 season and played its lone game was against the Eagles. No other opponent has appeared on the Terrier schedule more often. In fact, Northeastern is the next closest, and the Terriers and Huskies have met 188 times since the 1930-31 season. The two teams have played 32 overtime games over the years, and the Terriers are 6-11-15 (.422). During the early 90s, the Terriers won 13 straight and were 15-0-1 in 16 games. The 13-game streak lasted from Dec. 9, 1992 through March 4, 1995. Twice the Eagles had eight-game win streaks. The first came from Jan. 16, 1940 through Feb. 23, 1943. The second stretched from Dec. 22, 1953 through Feb. 11, 1957.
Amazingly, there have been just 13 shutouts in the 230-game series, and the Terriers have seven of the 13 (.538). Between 1983 and 2004, the two teams played 81 games in which each team scored at least one goal. When BC blanked BU in 2004, it was the first time in 126 meetings that the Eagles had shut out the Terriers. Since the formation of Hockey East 22 years ago, the Terriers are 24-34-9 (.425) against the Eagles in league games. When the two competed in the ECAC, the Terriers were 37-19-3 (.653) against BC.
The Terriers and Eagles have squared off 35 times in the Beanpot, with BU holding the 25-10 (.714) advantage. The teams last met in the opening round last year, when the Terriers skated to a 2-1 victory and went on to win the title the following week. BU and BC have played for the trophy 17 times, including six of the last 11 years, and the Terriers are 10-7 (.589).
In the last title meeting between the teams, BC came out the 2-1 winner in overtime. Kenny Roche, a freshman at the time, scored BU’s lone goal in the first period, which held until 16:30 of the final frame when Ty Hennes scored for BC to knot the game at 1-1. Ryan Murphy scored the game-winner on the power play at 6:07 of the extra session for the win. Terrier netminder Sean Fields put up a 50-save performance to garner both the tournament MVP award and the Eberly Trophy as the top goaltender.
The Terriers won the season series with the Eagles for the first time since 2001-02 (2-1-0). After the teams each won at home in a weekend series on Dec. 2-3, BU won the decisive third game at Conte Forum on Jan. 27.
ON THE AIR:
Television: NESN (434-DISH Network, 623-DIRECTV), Tom Caron (play-by-play), Don Sweeney (color), Bob Beers (arena reporter), Eric Frede (studio analyst) and Andy Brickley (studio analyst)
Radio: WTTT (1150 AM, goterriers.com), Bernie Corbett (play-by-play) and Tom Ryan (color)
Student Radio: WTBU (89.3 FM, 640 AM, wtburadio.org), Mark Mirlocca (play-by-play) and Brian Bourque (color)
To purchase tickets for Terrier home games, or for more information, click here or visit the Ticket Office at 925 Commonwealth Avenue, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., or call 617-353-GOBU (4628).
