Huskies storm to title, 6-3

By Joe Concannon, Globe Staff, 02/09/1988

The first symbolic gesture of what would turn into a frantic and controversial final night of the 35th Beanpot Hockey Tournament at Boston Garden may have been made by Northeastern alumnus John Hickey of Wilton, Conn. He sent a gift-wrapped red bulb to Boston University goaltender Terry Taillefer, who happens to date his daughter Maura.

The two games on Monday night became games of red lights that went on and red lights that didn't. Boston College presented coach Len Ceglarski with an historic 556th career victory on a disputed overtime goal at the buzzer in a 7-6 decision over Harvard, and Mike Kelfer gave Boston University a 4-3 overtime win over NU to give the Terriers their second straight Beanpot and 14th overall.

Taillefer, who made 35 saves to win the Eberly Trophy as the tournament's most effective goaltender, earned considerable support to repeat as most valuable player, an award won by Kelfer. He will settle for his second Beanpot.

It wouldn't be the Beanpot without a little controversy. The first centered on whether there should have been an overtime in the consolation game. The question never should have been raised.

The NCAA manual, edited by Harvard coach Bill Cleary, states that "if the score is tied at the end of three regulation 20-minute periods . . . a 10- minute period shall be played." Athletic directors, members of the media and the coaches were unclear. What probably caused it was the ECAC tournament regulation that states "there will be no overtime in a consolation game."

After the third period, Cleary asked referee Joe Albert about the overtime. ''He said, 'Yes,' " said Cleary yesterday. "We went underneath. I came out and someone said, 'We're not going to play.' I didn't know who was going to decide. No one knew what was going on." Then the fun began.

The Eagles presented Ceglarski with the victory that made him the winningest coach in college hockey history on Ken Hodge's third goal that went in as time ran out and the green light signaling the end of the game was on. Albert permitted the goal.

The Terriers became the eighth straight underdog to win the championship. The last team that was a clear favorite to win was the BU team of 1979. Coach Jack Parker has been a part of the Beanpot since the late 60s as a player, and 21 BU appearances in the past 24 finals is an amazing statistic in a tournament of such meaning.

"The crowd has a lot to do with it," he said. "The emotions of the game has a lot to do with it. It's hard not to get up for it and, frankly, BU over the years has had a lot of talent. We've won almost half of the tournaments. The amazing part of it is that over a quarter of a century BU's only missed the finals three times. Whatever it is, I like it."

"It was a different style of game," said Taillefer, who was in the goal for BU's 4-1 win over BC in 1986. "There's probably a lot more emotion in that game, because BC's always been a big rival. It was a typical BU-NU game. Bump and grind. Emotionally, it was definitely comparable and the value of the win was just as much."

Taillefer rose to the occasion on a 13-12-3 BU team much like the rest of his team did in this glorious Beanpot. "It's keeping in the game for 60 minutes," he said. "That's something I tried to keep in mind. I was very nervous in both (championship) games, but it was a different type of nervousness this year. I said to myself, 'I've been here before. Let's go out and do it.' "

Ed Lowney, who scored BU's first goal and sent John Cullen in for BU's third, was written in on a lot of MVP ballots by people who recognized the pure skills of this senior right wing from Revere. He was like many of the Beanpot players, someone who grew up watching it and dreaming of making it to the Garden. "There's nothing," said Lowney, "like playing in it."

There was an NU goal that went in and was waved off by referee Richie Fowkes, another red light that didn't go on. The Huskies took a 6-16-3 record into the Beanpot, beat the Crimson in overtime in the opening round and sent the championship game into overtime on Dave O'Brien's goal with one minute to go in regulation.

The two defeats the Crimson suffered came in its only two games against teams from Hockey East, and it could be a factor when home ice is determined in the NCAA playoffs. "It's on your NCAA record," said Cleary yesterday. ''It's still an NCAA game and it does count in your record. It should if you're playing the game."

This may have been the most glittering Beanpot of all, with three games going into overtime and the two underdogs meeting at the summit. Between them, BU (1982, 1986, 1987) and NU (1980, 1984, 1985) have won six of the eight Beanpots in this decade.