Several BC hockey fans, including a former co-captain and Beanpot champion, responded to Reid Oslin's "Beanpot memories" in the February issue of Alumni Connections with memories of their own. The 2010 Beanpot created new and pleasant memories, as the Eagles met archrival Boston University in the final February 8 and took the Beanpot with a 4-3 victory. If you have memories of the Beanpot you would like to share, please e-mail them to uacommunications@bc.edu.

Never gave a moment's thought to leaving
I'll never forget the announcement that came over the PA system at the Garden during the 1978 Beanpot: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Boston area is experiencing the worst snowstorm in history." At least that's how I remember it. It was ominous and dreadful, and that massive old cave went silent. The T was shutting down; we were strongly encouraged to leave immediately. But the games would go on, and that's all we needed to hear.

My roommates and I never gave a moment's thought to leaving. The fact that the "fake fans" were heading to the exits meant better seats were available. I don't remember a thing about the games that night, but I remember leaving the Garden hours later and miraculously being picked up by a van. The driver needed the ballast my roommates and I would provide to improve traction. We all hopped in back and the van weaved down the road. We hopped out several times to push until we finally surrendered near the Comm Ave./Brighton Ave. split. The driver just got out of the van, locked it, said good night and trudged off into the drifts, leaving the vehicle smack in the middle of the road. I assume we did roughly the same, though I don't remember that last mile or two. I don't remember which team won the trophy that year, but I do know that the Beanpot always wins.

Chris Ward '78

"T" memories fun, too
The games at the Garden were by far the most memorable – but I also remember the "fun" times on the T as well.  Being stranded several times as the T would break down and we would have to occupy the time as we waited for it to start up again and take us back to BC. Songs, dances, etc. would spontaneously erupt – always of a happier note if BC was victorious!

Paula Bruskiewitz '80

Redemption
As a four-year scholarship athlete and player on some very good but "underachieving" BC hockey teams, my favorite Beanpot memory was winning it in 1983 and carrying that pot around the old Boston Garden as BC’s co-captain. I started at BC in 1979 on the heels of an ECAC championship and national championship appearance as one of four freshman forwards brought in to assist in replacing Hall of Famer Joe Mullen’s point production. (Good luck with that . . . "Mike who? Yeah, I think I remember him.") We had a great team that season, ranked #1 in the nation and we went on to break the school record for most wins that year.

The Beanpot rolled around and we were heavily favored going in. Our record going into the final against Northeastern was something gaudy, like 18-3-1. Our opponent’s record was almost the exact opposite. I was on the ice in overtime that fateful night for Northeastern’s first Beanpot victory ever. The Boston Globe photographer had a great vantage point as he snapped the photo of Wayne Turner celebrating his overtime goal behind our net. Unfortunately, I was also part of that picture frame, caught snapping my stick in two over the crossbar and nearly amputating teammate Paul Hammer’s arm as he was standing over our goaltender Bob O'Connor, holding onto the cage. (Hambone and I can now lay claim that we were vindicated back-checkers based on the recently released DVD video, "Greatest Beanpot Moments.")

Since Northeastern's first Beanpot victory was a watershed moment in their hockey history, that photo ended up on Northeastern’s program cover for the entire season in 1980-81. So, there is Wayne Turner celebrating and some poor sport Irishman from BC named O’Neil smashing his stick over the crossbar. As my relatively undistinguished hockey career faded away, the good ol' Boston Globe has been kind enough to reprint that photo and retell that story every few years or so. Even though my career took me to the suburbs of Philadelphia, my friends and former teammates were also always kind enough to call me and let me know that the Globe dusted off the old photo and re-ran it with a story describing the unparalleled spirit and glory of what the Beanpot was all about. "Hey Oney, you’re in the Globe again," teammate and friend Jim Chisholm would call to say. (I did say friend, right?)

To this day, with me 49 years old, youngsters I have taught and coached in the Philadelphia area approach me to tell me they "saw my picture" on one of their hockey pilgrimages north. Still, with all that history, I never played in a consolation game in the Beanpot. Our teams fought, battled, and lost in the finals the next two seasons. Despite either placing first or in the top five in regular season ECAC play, we bowed out of the playoffs unceremoniously in my first three seasons of play.

Sweetness and vindication finally came during my senior year on a cold February night in 1983 when we blew Northeastern out of the old Garden in the finals. #9 (I was #25 in that Globe picture, having changed numbers the very next year) scored a goal and got to carry the Beanpot around the Boston Garden in victory. We all got to take the Beanpot home, unescorted. (If that thing could only talk?!) You know it would be nice if the Globe ran that photo of our '83 victory just once in place of the old Wayne Turner-Northeastern shot!

It is a great tournament that I was honored to be a part of. Winning it, as a senior on my way out, was the only way to go. Go Eagles!

Mike O'Neil '83

Snowy adventure
My favorite Beanpot memory was 1978. I was living in Brighton near St. E’s, and took the T down to the Garden as snow fell on New England. When the night of college hockey was over, the crowd filtered out onto Causeway Street to find that the Green Line was no longer running because of the snow.

Chris Sullivan '75 was my med school roommate that year, and Sully and I walked to Park Street, and rode the Red Line to Harvard Square. Sully and I then walked home to Brighton, enjoying the beautiful snowfall, and accumulating an adventure we can share years later -- the Blizzard of 78.

Rick Geller '74

Fish tale
Probably not the kind of story you are looking for, not very heroic, and the details may be inexact, but anyway . . . I seem to remember a Beanpot game in the mid-sixties, BC vs BU. BC had just scored a sixth goal and a huge fish came flying out of an upper tier of seats, landing with a resounding "plop" in front of the BU goalie.

D.A. Vaughn '64

Three days in the 'Gahden'
Good win for BC! Time to end the streak of the Parker Invitational... As a former baseball player, I and other 'jocks' were often called on to be security guards at the "Gahden" and Fenway. Yup, you guessed it, Blizzard of 78, we security guards had to work the Beanpot and ended up stuck at the Garden for three days. We drank every drop of beer in the Garden and consumed all the hot dogs. We ran around on the ice and slept in the "heavens" until the state troopers drove us back to BC. As lasting a memory as it was, I think we would have loved to be with all our regular buds at Chestnut Hill.

George Ravanis '78