No Shortage of Crimson Beanpot Heroes

Everyone could find a hero in Monday night's remarkable upset of BU.

Sophomore Steve Martins with his two goals and fiery on-ice presence.

Ted Drury with his two points and team leadership.

And, of course, freshman goalie Tripp Tracy (30 saves), who the media seems to have dubbed the next John Blue--a previously unheralded netminder making his mark when it counts.

After the game, everybody was talking about Tracy, Tracy, Tracy. Who is he? Where did he learn to play that way?

Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni said Tracy is a born competitor. "Tripp's just an outstanding goaltender. He's a very, very competitive kid. He's got that look in his eyes that says he wants to be there in the tough situations."

Captain Ted Drury thinks Tracy's spunk makes him shine in net. "Tripp played unbelievably tonight. He's a very confident kid."

Tracy himself said he was just a little bit over-whelmed by the whole experience. "I'm from Michigan, and there's nothing like this in Michigan," the Grosse Point Farne native said.

You can say that again.

Exciting Moments right after Harvard sophomore Steve Martins fired a cannon ball in the top left corner of the net Monday to tie the score in the first period, Boston University looked ready to pounce.

And Harvard did everything it could to give the Terriers that extra spring in their step, getting called for too many men on the ice 41 seconds after Martins' penalty.

What followed was just one spectacular moment in a extra-spectacular game.

With the boisterous Terrier fans taunting, "you can't count," to their intellectually superior opponents, Harvard proceeded to open class and teach the Terriers a little lesson in penalty killing and physical play.

Harvard held firm through the first minute poking at everything in the zone. Then senior Matt Mallgrave's stick shattered in a collision against the boards, and Harvard was caught with one man down and one man without a stick. But the senior made the best of a lost situation, forechecking and pestering every BU defender. It paid off, as Mallgrave found his skate on the puck on the right side by the blueline and cleared it up the ice at 15:35.

The fun didn't stop there. BU brought the puck back down, more than a little frustrated that it couldn't score against a team that was virtually without two of its players.

Harvard goalie Tripp Tracy stopped the charge, but was felled by a storming Mike Bavis in the process. Junior Sean "Riddick Bowe" McCann gave "Michael Dokes" Bavis a lesson he wouldn't soon forget, reprimanding the Terriers' insolence with a quick jab to Bavis' jaw. Knockdown. No penalty for Harvard. Power play over for BU.

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Hype Begins: The public campaigning for the Hobey Baker is now in full swing. Harvard, traditionally reserved in its hype for its athletic teams, now has a release touting "Harvard's Hobey Baker Candidate" Ted Drury. The yellow flyer includes a brief personal profile, 1992-93 statistics and highlights of this season.

Speaking of the Hobey, Monday's game was scheduled to be a marquis matchup between two top candidates for college hockey's most valuable player: Drury and BU Captain David Sacco. The line score says the battle was a draw, a goal and an assist for each. Then again, Drury did lead his team to victory. He also won most valuable player for the Beanpot.

So much for Sacco. The only other guy left is Maine's Paul Kariya. If he would agree to come to town, we wouldn't have to wait. We could settle this Hobey business right here and now.

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NOTES: BU senior Scott Cashman struggled earlier this season to hold onto the starting goalie position, forced to watch as Coach Jack Parker experimented with sophomores J.P. McKersie and Derek Herlofsky.

He won back the spot, however, and played strongly in net in both Beanpot games, winning the Eberly Trophy for most outstanding goaltender (based strictly on percentages in case you're wondering why Tracy didn't get the honor he deserved) in the tournament.

He is the first goalie to ever win it twice and closes his career with a 5-1 mark in Beanpot games...Martins certainly didn't have too much trouble with Cashman, however. He burned the BU goalie at 15:14 of the first period for Harvard's first goal.

"It was right off the face-off," Martins said. "Cashman was playing a bit to the right. I didn't really look [for the hole]. I just took the shot."

After handing the Crimson its first ECAC loss last Friday, Rensselaer went on to shut down Brown in a 5-2 victory and to move within three points of Harvard in the conference.

Harvard didn't have much luck on the power play against RPI, but clicked at 50 percent Monday, going one-for-two...Was Monday's game particularly physical? A quick look at the penalties seems to indicate that. Five of 11 penalties were for hitting after the whistle. BU's Mike Davis collected two of them.