At this point, Jack Parker just knows. Take, for example, the Boston University hockey coach’s demeanor in the depths of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena last Friday night. Amidst the season’s ninth lamentation of a Hockey East failure, there was an odd moment.
When asked whether the 2-1 loss to the River Hawks would hurt his team going into the Beanpot Tournament, Parker hardly even considered it a legitimate question.
“The Beanpot is a different thing,” he said, insisting on discussing his team’s conference woes. “We’ll see what happens.”
In failing to win consecutive games thus far, the talented-but-underachieving Terriers (8-10-6) have shown the consistency of the trains that frequent the tracks a few hundred yards away from Walter Brown Arena. Just when you’re sure they’ll come barreling around the corner, four opponents roll by in the other direction.
But you could tell that Parker knew they would show up for the Beanpot, just like they always do. And they did, whipping passes like Bryan Miller’s perfecto to Brian McConnell for a goal and forechecking oppressively like feisty 5-foot-5 Brad Zancanaro.
In fact, Monday’s 5-2 drubbing of Northeastern University just happened to be BU’s best effort of the year. Just the BU Beanpot magic?
“I don’t really think so,” said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder after BU sent his team to its 41st consolation game. “We want to make sure these kids are just worrying about one 60-minute hockey game and stuff that’s happening on the ice. They have no bearing on what happened in 1952 or 1962, let alone 2002.
“We just didn’t have it tonight, in a lot of ways.”
In the annals of Beanpot history, it’s not easy to find a night when the Terriers didn’t “have it.” And actually, things were oddly similar in 1952 and 1962 – both BU first-round defeats of the Huskies.
As for 2002, Crowder might be even more bitter – that year, Northeastern pounded Harvard University in the first round before being subject to Terrier tyranny in the title game.
The Husky headman just happened to hit three examples, but he had plenty to choose from, as BU’s first-round numbers are hardly even realistic.
Overall, they’re a modest 43-9 on the first Monday in February. But Husky, Eagle and Crimson faithful might want to sit down when hearing that BU is 37 for its last 41 and 20 for its last 21. The last 10 Terrier teams have played in the late game the second week, meaning they are a perfect 9-0 in the first round since the Boston Garden redefined the Boston market for commemorative bricks.
“I told [the players], ‘You don’t know what [losing in the first round] feels like. I know what it feels like,'” Parker said after the win. “I’ve never been in [the consolation game] as a player, but I’ve been in it as a coach – how many times, three or four? I don’t want to be in that game.”
It’s impossible not to laugh when Parker says “three or four,” as he has now been the coach for 31 Beanpots. Oh, and by the way, it was four, to go with his 17 Beanpots. Poor guy.
As it turns out, his team has done pretty well in the next round, too. While boasting a slightly less pant-wetting 25-17 mark in the finals, a win next Monday would still give the Terriers a ridiculous half of the 52 trophies. Maybe even more impressively, Parker’s boys are 19-1 in their last 20 Beanpot games, with a loss to eventual national champion Boston College in the 2001 title game the only blemish in capturing eight of the last nine ‘pots.
“To come over here at 3:30 next Monday – it’s a tough night,” Parker said. “We’re very fortunate that we haven’t had to do it too often.”
But on either night, the Terriers haven’t always been the best team going in – making their run as Boston’s best even more puzzling.
Over a four-year stretch from 1998-2001, BC went to three national championship games, winning once. Coach Jerry York’s team also won only one of four Beanpots over that stretch.
Last year, the Eagles swept BU in three regular-season games before February, but the 11th-ranked Terriers knocked off No. 4 BC at the FleetCenter.
Even the unranked and eventual 14-20-3 Icedogs of 1999 – coincidentally following a loss to Lowell – managed to squeak past then-No. 6 BC in overtime in the first round on their way to another Beanpot.
If you’re confused, you have friends in Cambridge and Chestnut Hill and on Huntington Avenue. But Parker’s explanation is pretty simple.
“I’ve said this many, many times,” he said. “I think one of the reasons we haven’t had to [play in consolation games] very often is because we’ve had great players.”
Unfortunately, that explanation does not suffice. Of course BU has had great players, but some pretty good ones (try Husky Dan McGillis, Crimson Don Sweeney and Eagle Brian Gionta) have worn maroon, gold, crimson and black, too.
“We also over the history of the tournament have always had great goaltending,” Parker added. “When we haven’t won, it’s probably because we didn’t get great goaltending.”
Well, that’s a little better. Scott Cashman (three Eberly awards as the goalie with the best save percentage in the Beanpot), Rick DiPietro (one goal allowed on 52 shots in 2000) and Michel Larocque (a Beanpot-record .950 save percentage) have given way to last year’s Beanpot MVP, Sean Fields, in the BU net.
But still, how come brick walls like Scott Clemmensen (BC) and Marc Robitaille (Northeastern) haven’t spelled success for their respective institutions?
That’s just one of many questions that remain unanswered thanks to the Terrier Beanpot dynasty – a use of the “D” word that no one can question. But perhaps that’s the answer right there.
Maybe BU started winning Beanpots and has simply fueled its success with, well, success.
“I think until you beat the champion, it’s one of those tournaments,” Crowder said at the Beanpot media luncheon last week, arguing that BU is the favorite even this year while BC (20-3-3) sits at No. 2 in the country and the Terriers struggle. “BU’s had a great, great run.”
There’s something to say for intimidation. People said the Soviets won because of it, and that the Yankees win because of their pinstripes. Maybe the scarlet and white sweaters hold similar magic.
Or even if that is mere foolish speculation, it is a fact that BU players feel more confident and comfortable on the FleetCenter ice – as McConnell demonstrated by turning into an 18-wheeler and sending BC forward Chris Collins airborne during last year’s championship game.
“Come Beanpot time, BU’s always jacked up to play,” Fields said after shutting down Northeastern. “Historically, we’ve done very well in this tournament. So we do have that added confidence of past history.
“But games aren’t played on paper, so we had to go out and play hard.”
There’s something to that last little bit, too. The Terriers don’t rest on their success. They take nothing for granted, and are always hungry for more. Parker has questioned his team’s effort at times this year (see the 2-1 loss to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Jan. 7), but his players looked like they were being chased by Zambonis Monday.
That hunger, combined with the psychological edge, could be a margin that is very difficult to overcome for any other team.
“I always tell our guys, ‘You’re going to get [the opponent’s] best effort tonight,'” Parker said at the luncheon. “‘We have to make sure we give them our best effort.'”
From Parker’s mouth to his players’ ears to his opponents’ misery. But whether or not there is actually a reason for BU’s Beanpot success – if you roll the dice 52 times, they might say nine 26 of them – the Terriers almost always make the finals, and they’re bound to win some of them.
Stranger things have happened than if BC beats BU next Monday. But if Northeastern had beaten the Terriers, that would have ruffled some feathers. Which is why the ‘Dogs only modestly swarmed Fields when the buzzer rang Monday night – they had simply taken care of business.
“That’s one of our mottos before we get in here,” Parker said. “I said, ‘Boys, we don’t play in consolation games.'”
In years such as this, go ahead and bet that you won’t see the Terriers in the NCAA Tournament, and you may win some money.
But when it comes to Beanpots, bet on Jack Parker. Because he knows.