The 61st Beanpot Championship was held last night. For those of you unfamiliar with the Beanpot, why aren't you following
my twitter feed? You'd be well educated by now! To summarize it's an in-season tournament featuring the four division one hockey programs within the city limits of Boston - BC, BU, Harvard and Northeastern - that takes place the first two Mondays in February. Boston College and Northeastern won their semifinal games against Harvard and Boston University, respectively, for the opportunity to play for the highly coveted trophy.
After a scoreless first, BC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period thanks to Bill Arnold and Johnny Gaudreau before Kevin Roy gave the Huskies some life and pulled Northeastern within one with five left in the period. It looked like he was going to tie the game two minutes later with a breakaway, but goaltender Parker Milner was able to get his glove on it for the save. In typical BC fashion, the Eagles built off that momentum and promptly scored to make it 3-1 and then 4-1 in the final 83 seconds of the period stealing all momentum.
Roy (pronounced like Patrick, not Derek) who had scored a hat trick in their semifinal game against BU, notched his second of the night just :11 into the final frame providing a much needed spark for the Huskies. Four minutes later it was 4-3 as Braden Pimm scored on the power play and all of a sudden this game got a lot more interesting. BC's seniors were on a mission to become the first class in Eagles history to win four Beanpots, while Northeastern was looking for their first Beanpot in 25 years. The Huskies kept pressing and Roy had another great chance later in the period, but with just over five minutes left in regulation, Gaudreau scored his second of the night to make it 5-3 and Pat Mullane iced it with a empty netter with :90 to play for a 6-3 final.
While the Eagles started this season's trophy hunting campaign with yet another Beanpot, it was Northeastern's Roy - an Anaheim draft pick - who earned MVP honors with his five goals over the two games and dominating play throughout. I also realized on my way home that BC's Johnny Gaudreau hasn't lost a tournament in the past three years. His championship hat collection includes a Clark Cup (USHL), two Beanpots, a Hockey East Championship (with another in the crosshairs), an NCAA National Championship (with another in the crosshairs) and a World Junior Championship. Furthermore, he's played an integral role on every single team. He might look like he's 12, stand 5'6 with his skates on and weigh his listed 140 pounds with all his equipment on sopping wet, but he's a bonafide winner. Last year the Flames draft pick earned 44 points in 44 games as a freshman. He's already got 36 points in 23 games so far this season and has Hobey Baker Finalist written all over him.
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Holy Chicago Blackhawks.
The magic is back in the Windy City and a focused Patrick Kane is leading the charge as the Hawks have four guys producing at a point per game pace - Kane, Toews, Hossa and Sharp. The most encouraging part is their dominance 5-on-5. With their stingy penalty kill added into the mix they're getting it done in front of Corey Crawford and he's making it worth their while with an outstanding 1.62 GAA. Can you imagine if their power play really starts rolling? They've been on the road for two weeks as Disney on Ice took over the United Center, but they host the red hot Ducks tonight who are looking to give the Hawks their first regulation loss of the season and earn two crucial points in the standings. It's the Game of the Night for me, closely followed by San Jose-Nashville.
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While they are fourth in the Eastern Conference and breathing down the Bruins neck in the Northeast, there is a lot of excitement brewing in Toronto, but there is also lots of room for improvement. They are average in just about every statistical category except where it matters most, in the win column. It isn't always pretty, but they are finding ways to get it done and starting to find that clutch mentality that is necessary to manufacture wins, especially of the one-goal variety. They need to tighten up defensively and work on special teams as both their power play and penalty kill leave much to be desired, but the huge bright spot has been their play 5-on-5 and the play of "young guns" Nazem Kadri, Matt Frattin, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk.
It's not time to plan a parade, but there is no denying this team is playing the best it has in years….with Brian Burke's thumbprint all over it.
Julie
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