The No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team’s 3-2 win over No. 4 Boston College Monday in the Beanpot championship highlighted an already obvious fact: BU owns the Beanpot.
The numbers are staggering: 10 BU titles in the last 12 years; 19 Beanpot championships under BU coach Jack Parker; and most impressively, 27 titles or exactly half of all those awarded in the 54-year history of the tournament.
But Monday’s thrilling victory also helped stake BU’s claim into another desired piece of property, one it hasn’t been able to declare ownership of since the turn of the century. And that’s the ownership of the Boston College Eagles.
Few, if any, Hockey East teams can say it. But with a 3-1 record against BC this season – including their 26th win over it in the Beanpot – the Terriers have the Eagles’ number.
They’ve handed them nearly half of their seven losses. They took them down, 4-3, in their own building when the Eagles were ranked No. 1 in the country. They’ve made their goaltender – perhaps the best in the league – look downright mediocre (3.53 goals-against average, .887 save percentage against BU) when compared to his stats against everyone else (1.77, .936).
Yet, all of this is overwhelming when you consider BC has dominated BU in the regular season. With that 4-3 win last month, the Terriers won the regular-season league series against BC for the first time since 2001-02. Since Hockey East was formed 22 years ago, BU holds a measly .425 win percentage against its archrival in league games.
Though Parker was quick to point out that hasn’t always translated into the “big games” – like the Beanpot or the Hockey East playoffs, where BU upset the Eagles as a No. 8 seed two years ago – BC has always held the upper hand in the regular-season series. Until now.
“We’ve played three great games against them that we won, and I think they’re not as strong as they have been in the past,” said BU captain David Van der Gulik. “They’ve lost some pretty talented players, but they’re definitely a great team. We beat them when they were No. 1 a little while ago.
“But finally the tables are turning and it’s good that we beat them three out of four this year,” he added. “It’s kind of nice to get some payback.”
BC has had to deal with the loss of stars like Andrew Alberts and Patrick Eaves from last season. They’ve also had to rely on as many as eight freshmen in the lineup each night. But those departures are only half the story.
While they may have taken a step back, BU has taken a huge step forward. Gutsy upperclassmen like Van der Gulik, Brad Zancanaro and John Laliberte have combined with high-impact freshmen like Jason Lawrence (who scored the go-ahead goal Monday), Brandon Yip and Matt Gilroy, among others.
Sophomores Pete MacArthur and Boomer Ewing have joined junior Kenny Roche to create one of the most potent lines in the league. Junior goalie John Curry has “emerged into a very dominant goaltender,” according to BC coach Jerry York, and the defensive corps – led by senior Dan Spang – have never been better.
Simply put, the Terriers are as good as their national-best 11-game win streak indicates. And that hasn’t been more evident than in its recent dominance of BC.
“This team is the best Terrier team I’ve seen in the last four or five years,” York said. “Specifically, they’re quicker and more creative. They haven’t had those qualities over the last four or five years. They have them now, and they used them tonight.”
Parker echoed York, saying “this is arguably one of our better teams in the last four or five years,” and he also attributed that to more creativity up front. The freshmen have had a huge impact in adding depth and “cleverness,” Parker said, and he even went as far as to say Gilroy is “all of a sudden looking like Chris Chelios.”
But he wouldn’t automatically agree to the idea that BC had dominated BU in the past – or that Monday’s win meant his team was finally taking the upper hand on its biggest rival.
“They’ve dominated the league more than we have, but I don’t think they’ve dominated us,” Parker said. “But they’ve had better teams.”
Whether the Eagles have a better team this year may still be up for debate, but one thing is undeniable. They certainly haven’t proved it against BU.