For one team, no nerves on opening night

By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 2/4/2003

o new news here. Sorry.

TERRIERS ADVANCE TO BEANPOT FINALS.

That is not a mere headline. That is an article of Boston athletic faith. That is DOG BITES MAN. That is WHITEY STILL MISSING. That is TED RE-ELECTED.

It's never a matter of if, just how. Boston University doesn't lose on the first Monday in February, not in the FleetCenter. The Terriers made it 8-0 in first-round FleetCenter Beanpot games, beating game Harvard by a 2-1 score last evening.

They didn't do a whole lot of Beanpot losing in the Garden, either. They have now advanced to the Beanpot finals for the 19th time in 20 years, the 36th time in the last 40, and the 42d time in the 51-year history of collegiate hockey's signature in-season tournament.

''I realize more and more with each passing year that they are very much a tournament-tested team,'' sighed Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni. ''They are ready to play in this tournament.''

Good team, great team, in-between team . . . it makes no difference. BU gets the job done in the Beanpot.

''We hate to play in the consolation game,'' said captain Freddy Meyer, whose goal at 13:21 of the final period provided BU with the comeback triumph.

Um, Freddy, how would you know?

''My four years we haven't played in it,'' Meyer had to admit.

There wasn't much separating these two teams. Goaltenders Sean Fields (BU) and Dov Grumet-Morris (Harvard) were equally impressive. The modest energy level was about the same. Each team scored off a faceoff. So what was the difference?

''The biggest difference between us and them in the two games was we didn't finish,'' said Mazzoleni. BU beat Harvard, 3-0, Nov. 26, and it pains the Crimson mentor to think that in 120 minutes of hockey against BU his team has scored just once, a second-period Kenny Smith goal right after a faceoff won by teammate Tom Cavanaugh. Smith took a puck caroming off the boards and put a nice wrist shot past Fields.

BU tied the game later in the period when defenseman Bryan Miller poked the puck between Harvard defenseman Noah Welch's legs and beat Grumet-Morris in the upper left corner.

The first game of the Beanpot doubleheader generally has a strange dynamic, and this was Exhibit A. When the puck is dropped at a little after 5 o'clock, there are only a couple thousand people in the building. The game has an October scrimmage feel. The stands fill up gradually, and at some point in the third period you look up and say, ''Whoa! Where did all these people come from?'' And then the game can begin.

Eighty percent of the excitement in this game took place in the third period, and a disproportionate amount of that action was compressed into a five-minute stretch that included matching post whacks (BU's Mark Mullen had a very wide open net; Harvard's Tim Pettit had a smaller target) and a game-altering skate save by Fields on Welch at 12:11. This was a big-time save, the kind that can electrify an entire bench. It really came as no shock when Ryan Priem won a faceoff and the always-entertaining Meyer whipped the puck past Grumet-Morris at 13:21.

''The thing that jumped out at me was that it seemed like it was a a very slow game,'' noted BU coach Jack Parker, whose lifetime Beanpot coaching record is now a dazzling 45-14. ''I was playing four lines, but maybe I should have played three. My guys weren't tired, but they had no jump because they were just sitting around. We were very fortunate to win, but we did because we played great defense, killed penalties, and got great goaltending.''

Parker is well aware of the First Game Syndrome. ''You look up and you suddenly notice all these people and you've got to control your emotions,'' he explained.

So what exactly is the deal in this Beanpot business? This is not a vintage BU team. Last night's victory makes the 2002-03 Terriers 16-10-2. But they just do not lose here on the first Monday. The last time BU wasn't playing for the championship was 1994, and the last time before that was 1983.

''If this tournament were played in December we'd be also-rans,'' Parker claimed. ''I've had the ability to screw this team up in December, but we always seem to come around.''

Funny how that happens. Is it possible BU benefits from the coaching?

Parker won't say that, of course, but there is no other conclusion. BU traditionally gets better and better as the season progresses.

Parker said this BU team has found itself during the last 14 or 15 games. ''And who we are is a team that makes it difficult for you to play us, that makes it difficult for you to get to the net and usually outshoots opponents by a pretty big margin,'' Parker declared. ''But tonight was not a very good example of that.''

The kids come and go, and come and go, but the team with the red uniforms continues to dominate the Beanpot.

''You want to make sure your class has the same respect the other ones have had at BU,'' Meyer said.

BU STINKS UP JOINT IN BEANPOT

Now that would constitute seriously new news.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 2/4/2003.
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