By Joe Concannon, Globe Staff, 02/10/1993

The telephone kept ringing yesterday in the office of Harvard hockey coach Ronn Tomassoni and in Chet Stone's equipment emporium at Dillon Field House. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet the day after the Crimson beat Boston University, 4-2, to win the 41st Beanpot and put everybody in Harvard Square in a party mood on a Monday night in February.

There was no practice, and just a few players passed over the bridge from the campus to the athletic complex. The Crimson (15-2-1) ended three years of frustration against the Terriers (19-6-2), who were 16-1-1 since Nov. 28 and in search of a fourth straight Beanpot title. It was not to be, though, as freshman goaltender Tripp Tracy and tournament MVP Ted Drury led the Crimson in a classic exhibition of the college game.

Harvard had lost to the Terriers, 4-3, on Nov. 24, but now has a 3-1 record vs. teams outside the ECAC, and that will be a plus when it comes time to name the teams for the NCAA tournament, which the Crimson won the last time they won the Beanpot.

This is a team with only two seniors, although Drury took a year off to travel to Meribel, France, with the US Olympic team and is the captain, center of the first line and leading scorer. Tomassoni, who saw his team's 10-game winning streak ended by his alma mater, RPI, in a 6-3 verdict last Friday night, won his first Beanpot as head coach, though he was an assistant to athletic director Bill Cleary when the Crimson won it four years ago.

"Sometimes expectations are so high that the game doesn't fulfill it," said Tomassoni. "I think everyone got their money's worth. The game had everything. There were great defensive and great offensive plays, and the intensity for three periods by both teams was something. You can point to everything about that game, but obviously the result was the best of it."

Before the 1989 title, there had been a gap of eight years since a Beanpot, and Tomassoni was a part of those disappointments.

"I remember some years we weren't even getting into the finals," he said.

The motivation to end three years of frustration against the Terriers in the wake of that first ECAC setback at RPI was obvious.

"They've got a great team," said Tomassoni. "They own this tournament. They've won it three years in a row, but you want to play the best. There's no secret we wanted to play them."

For Steve Flomenhoft, a senior center out of the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, this had been an elusive goal.

"I don't think it's really hit me at this point," said Flomenhoft. "It's a big win, and something we were pointing to for quite a while. We realize, like any big accomplishment, it's something you look back at down the road when hockey's over and you realize it's quite an accomplishment."

He had never heard of the Beanpot before leaving the Midwest.

"It was kind of an eye-opener in my first game," said Flomenhoft. "There was an extra bounce in everybody's step and a little light in their eyes."

Brian Farrell, the left wing on Drury's line and a product of Avon (Conn.) Old Farms, had the Crimson's second goal and assisted on the decisive third one. He is one of many underrated players on this team, which leads the ECAC at 12-1 and faces a big game against Yale (13-6-2, 10-2-2) Friday night in Bright Center. There was still yesterday, however, to savor the Beanpot and imagine where this team might go.

"It was an exhilarating experience to carry the Beanpot and have your friends leaning over the glass," said Farrell. "It's just a super feeling. You know what it's like to sit there as the second-place player and watch. Just being a first-place player makes it all that much better.

"Everyone I knew from school was there. There was a great feeling, just like there is for any game at the Garden. There was just so much energy inside the place."

The Crimson have eight ECAC games left.

"I think this team can become the best," said Farrell. "From Day 1, we've just been rising and rising. It's one of the best teams I've ever been on.

"We do everything together. We get on the ice and we work harder than any team I've played on. This win can only catapult us into this next weekend. Winning a championship and holding the Beanpot gives you a little spark and gives you a desire to hold the big one NCAA at the end of the year."