After last Monday’s Beanpot semifinal round, Boston University coach Jack Parker shocked many in his press conference when he said the tournament needed Northeastern Unviersity and Harvard University to take home the prized trophy, and soon.

With a Beanpot final slated for Monday night at approximately 8 p.m. against No. 14 Boston College, Parker clarified his statement Saturday.

“The Beanpot has captured Boston’s interest for a long, long time,” Parker said. “We need the alums and the students of all four schools to keep it that way.

“There’s been such a drought of Harvard or NU winning it, that people kid about it being the BU Invitational because we’ve won so many times.”

In a Boston Globe column last week, Dan Shaugnessy suggested that the Beanpot had lost its luster due to a downward trend in Massachusetts’ high school hockey. As Shaugnessy pointed out, only 18 Massachusetts’ natives skated in Monday’s semifinal Beanpot games &-&- 11 of those were playing for BC (15-8-2, 11-6-2 Hockey East).

Parker has noticed the drop-off in Massachusetts’ talent. It’s a big reason why the Terriers (11-11-3, 8-9-2) have just three Massachusetts players on their current roster &-&- David Warsofsky (Marshfield), Andrew Glass (Wrentham) and Ross Gaudet (Burlington).

Needless to say, long-gone are the days when New Englanders fulfilled life-long dreams of skating on the Garden’s ice on the first two Monday’s of February.

“You weren’t going to find a better player than Scotty Young or Craig Janney,” Parker said. “That holds true with Tony Amonte or David Emma or whoever it might be. We’ve got to get Massachusetts hockey back to that, and I will tell you frankly, a lot of times it has to do with cycles, but this has been a long cycle.”

“I think the way people approach the game in this state, and the way parents approach the game in this state, they need to take a good hard look at what’s happening. They’re not listening &-&- we’re telling them what’s wrong but they don’t want to do it.

“They truly believe, “My kid should play 70 games at 14 years old.’ A friend of mine’s daughter played 55 games as a nine year old. That’s just absolutely ridiculous.”

Still, Parker doesn’t see a direct correlation between the state of Massachusetts’ high school hockey and Boston’s premiere college hockey showcase.

“I don’t think the Beanpot suffers because we have less Massachusetts kids and I don’t think the Beanpot’s suffering because we have less talented players,” Parker said. “I think who’s in the stands might suffer. In the next 10 years we won’t have a lot of former alums that played in the Beanpot here because they don’t live in Boston.

“It became such an in-ticket. It was like Opening Day for the Red Sox. A lot of people go to Opening Day for the Red Sox then don’t see another baseball game. A lot of people go to the Beanpot then don’t see another college hockey game.

“They want to say they went to the Beanpot.”

The fact that most of today’s college players don’t come from Massachusetts isn’t the only thing having an effect on the game. In a season when BU has already played in front of sizeable crowds at Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park, the Beanpot has to lose some of its relative luster on BU’s campus.

“In the 60s and 70s, the Beanpot was the largest crowd you were going to play in front of,” Parker said. “Didn’t matter if you went to the national championship, the crowd was going to be bigger there than anywhere else.

“Now there’s the Beanpot, then there’s the Hockey East Tournament at the Garden, then there’s some regional tournaments some people go to. Then there’s the Frozen Four, which is packed in a huge building. Our guys are playing in front of 18,200 people at Madison Square Garden and we had that unique thing with 38,000 at Fenway Park. I think that makes it a little bit different.”

That said, Parker still thinks that, come the first two Monday’s in February, every player on a BU, BC, NU and Harvard roster comes ready to play their best game.

“I thought Northeastern played a terrific college hockey game the other night and so did we. We were both on top of our games. It was, “We want to get to the Beanpot final.'”

“It’s a highlight of every year, regardless of even if there’s Fenway or whatever,” senior Eric Gryba said. “It’s not quite on the stage of the national championship, but it’s right up there.”

Game Notes:
Junior Colby Cohen is doubtful for Monday’s Beanpot finale with a lower-body injury, according to Parker. . . . Monday will mark the 20th time BU and BC will meet in the Beanpot finals. BU holds a 12-7 record in the previous 19 meetings. . . . BU will be playing for its 30th Beanpot title. The Eagles will be looking for their 15th title