Previewing the 'Pot

Perhaps it was for the better--the Harvard men's hockey team's 4-2 loss at Yale last week. Although the loss brought an end to the longest consecutive victory streak at the start of the season in Crimson history, it still left the icemen (15-1 overall, 13-1 ECAC) far ahead of the ECAC pack.

Equally, the loss did little damage to Harvard in the national polls. This week's national poll placed the Crimson in second place, behind North Dakota and in front of Boston College.

The silver lining, if there is one, is this: the loss should take the skaters' minds off the streak and allow them to concentrate on doing something only one Harvard team has done in the past eight years--win an opening round Beanpot game.

Harvard's next game is Monday, February 2. The opponent is Northeastern, the scene the Boston Garden, and the setting the `Pot opening round.

Full o' Beans: Despite making the NCAA tournament four of the last five years, Harvard has had desperate trouble right here in its own backyard, at the Beanpot. For the uninitiated, the Beanpot is--and has been for the past 35 years--the annual social event-hockey tournament which determines the unofficial champion of Hub college hockey. Every February, Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College and Boston University meet on consecutive Mondays and have a not-so-friendly get together.

And every February, so it seems, Harvard arrives at the 'Pot amid high expectations--and manages to go down in defeat. Last year the Crimson fell to Boston College, 4-2, in first round action.

But this year there seems room for real optimism. The first-round opponent Huskies are 5-15-3 on the season, having scored 70 goals while allowing 99.

The two teams last met in the 1986 Beanpot consolation round, where the Crimson skated to an easy 7-1 victory. Overall the two squads have met 11 times in the first round of the 'Pot, with Harvard capturing nine of those contests.

Harvard last won the Beanpot in 1981, when the fine goaltending of Wade Lau lifted the Crimson over B.C. in the finals, 2-0. Lau was named tourney MVP for his efforts.

Incidentally, the 'Pot results--while all important for local bragging rights--do not count in either Hockey East or ECAC standings.

The Bostons Meet: The other opening round game, which features B.C. and B.U., may not be a very tough one to predict, either. The Terriers downed the Eagles in the '86 'Pot finals, but the squads have gone in opposite directions since then.

Boston College, ranked third in the nation, sports an 18-4 record and has won all three head-to-head meetings this year, most recently 8-2 earlier this week.

Boston University, meanwhile, is struggling at 10-11-2.

Everything seems set, then, for a Harvard-B.C. round showdown. Be forewarned, however, that longtime 'Pot watchers, almost without exception, expect the unexpected from this venerable tourney.

By the way, the Bright Center magic which has propelled Harvard to a 23-game home unbeaten streak doesn't seem limited to the Crimson icemen; in Boston College's three "home" games at Bright this year, the Eagles are a perfect 3-0.