Word: beanpots
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Dave Burke of Harvard grew up that way. "I dreamed about playing in the Beanpot all my life," he said this week, recalling that he had attended the tournament every year with his family "as far back as I can remember." Recruited heavily by local colleges and lured with free Beanpot tickets ("the seats got better and better"), Burke nonetheless decided to go to Notre Dame, which he "really dug." In fact, he had already completed the initial acceptance...
...then Harvard coach Billy Cleary started dangling the prospect of playing in the Beanpot instead of just watching it. Did Burke really want to spend four years in South Bend, Indiana, where the word "Beanpot" draws a blank stare instead of glazed eyes? He did not. "I'd sacrifice almost anything just to win a Beanpot," the sophomore center says...
Burke is not alone. The 28th Beanpot Tournament gets underway tonight with Northeastern shooting for the moon (B.U.) at 6 p.m., followed by this season's number one college hockey phenomenon, B.C., against a youthful but determined Harvard squad in the showcase contest at nine. The performances of the four traditional rivals so far this season run the gamut from the East's best (B.C.) to worst (Northeastern), but you can throw those out now. Grabbing the beans doesn't involve standings or records...
...thing, unlike last year, the games won't count in ECAC Division One competition. But more than that, the Beanpot is (to borrow an oft-used phrase) "a season in itself." Two quick wins at the Garden transcend any number of embarassing disasters in Ithaca, Potsdam or Hanover. Conversely, failing to uphold a reputation as number one in the Beanpot puts a damper on even the most successful of years...
When all is said and done in college hockey in these parts, it's the Beanpot parts, it's the Beanpot that sticks in the memory of player and fan alike. Each team faces essentially the same challenge: rise to the occasion or fall short...