Q&A with Matt Gilroy

Second in a series of Q&A interviews with former Terriers who debuted in the NHL last season. Brandon Yip Q&A-8/3/10

The storybook path that took Matt Gilroy from a walk-on freshman in Sept. 2005 to three-time All-American, Hobey Baker Award winner in 2009 and captain of BU’s “miracle comeback” National Champions the same year has gained instant legend status with Terrier fans. Just days after the dramatics in D.C., Gilroy signed a multi-year contract with the New York Rangers, enabling him to begin his pro career in Madison Square Garden where his father, Frank, had played basketball for St. John’s.

Gilroy immediately earned a spot in the Blueshirts’ lineup and played 69 games, with a 4-11-5 scoring line. Currently preparing for Rangers’ training camp, Gilroy talked with us about his rookie season in the NHL.

Q If you had to give yourself a grade on your rookie pro season, what would it be?
A. It was a great experience. It was a good first year, but as for a grade, I don't think about hockey like that.

Q. What did you learn during the season that you'd wished you knew about while at BU?
A. Nothing. College and pro are very different learning experiences. While at BU I did not think about what the NHL was like; I concentrated on being at BU. I would not change anything [from my time] at BU.

Q. Was your brief demotion to Hartford a disappointment or a challenge-or both?
A. Being demoted to Hartford is part of playing professional hockey, so it was neither a disappointment nor a challenge rather part of the process.

Q. Obviously the Ranger's just falling short of the playoffs was disappointing, but can you think of a few personal highlights? Perhaps the goal scored against Martin Brodeur?
A. Let's see.....for me, the first game in Madison Square Garden, first game back in Boston, and playing against Yipper and Colin.

Q. Compare the coaching styles of John Tortorella and Jack Parker.
A. Both are intense, but very different. The pro game is much different than college.

Q. What role does former BU Capt. Mike Sullivan play as Ranger's assistant? Which Coach focuses on defense?
A. Mike Sullivan is the defensive coach for the Rangers

Q. What is the best part about playing with Chris Drury?
A. Chris is a quality guy on and off the ice. His work ethic is contagious.

Q. Were the physical demands of an 80 game season what you expected? Did 4 years with Mike Boyle prepare you physically for the NHL?
A. Mike Boyle does a great job! I expected the NHL to be different than college. The NHL season is very long and wears on you physically and mentally.

Q. Are there any NHL rules you d like to see the NCAA adopt and why?
A. None that I can think of right now.

Q. Any interesting experiences on the ice with former BU teammates?
A. Playing against Colin and Brandon was great. Colin and I went back and forth on the ice. When the Rangers played the Avalanche in Denver Steve Smolinsky and his Dad came out to watch Yip and I. It was alot of fun.

Q. Was your first vist to the Verizon Center in D.C. a special moment or just another game?
A. Going back to that building will always be special to me, to anyone who was on the team, and to anyone who attended those games.

Q. Finally have you watched the entire 2009 National Championship game on DVD since that weekend in D.C.? Do the events of the third period and overtime still seem "unreal," as you told the media after the game?
A. I have not watched the video. For me it was a once-in-a-lifetime game and experience. My family and friends have watched it. They all tell me that even though they know the outcome they still go through the same emotions as they did sitting there at the Championship game in D.C. When I think about that game ...yes, it was unreal!

Q&A with Brandon Yip

First in a series of Q&A interviews with former Terriers who debuted in the NHL last season.

After winning an NCAA championship, former Terrier wing Brandon Yip didn’t head for DisneyWorld, but set sights on the NHL. And he got there in just a few months, following recovery from a hand injury suffered at Avalanche training camp injury and a six-game AHL pit stop. Once in a Colorado sweater, Yip did the same thing he did as a Terrier: play physical hockey and find the back of the net. Limited to 32 regular season games, he put up an 11-8-19 line and led all NHL rookies in goals per game. Following the season, he signed a new two-year contract with Colorado.

Yip is the only player to score the game-winning goal in two Hockey East Championship games (2006, 2009), tallied 108 points during his Terrier career, which concluded with BU’s comeback win in the 2009 NCAA championship game win against Miami, 4-3, OT.

Q. Where have you been spending the offseason?

A. I have been spending my offseason in Boston for the most part. I am still training with Mike Boyle in Winchester. I also go back to Vancouver for a few weeks at a time to visit my family and friends.

Q. What did you learn at BU, on or off the ice, that has benefitted you in having a successful first season with Colorado?

A. I think the most beneficial attribute that I learned from BU and took to Colorado was “work ethic.” Coach Parker really stressed a good work ethic during practice and in summer training. Working hard really does pay off and I have learned that thus far.

Q. Besides those bookend game-winners in the 2006 and 2009 Hockey East title games and the NCAA win, are there a few other games in your BU career that stand out?
A. Well the obvious one, the NCAA championship, is definitely the highlight of my career. I can’t remember every goal clearly I have scored, but I always remember the ones against BC--haha.

Q. Do you feel that staying the full 4 years helped you get ready for the NHL and allowed you to spend minimal time in the minors?
A. Absolutely, staying four years at BU was tp my advantage for sure. It gave me four years to get physically stronger and it helped shape my game to what it is now. I learned a lot on and off the ice.

Q. All three members of your senior year line have already seen NHL action. That’s not a common occurrence. Can you tell us a little about what made Bonino, McCarthy and you work so well together?

A. I think we all just brought our best attributes to the line and it seemed to jell pretty well. We complemented each other in different ways, but working hard for each other was our common denominator. Both Johnny and Nicky are great players and are going to continue to have great success wherever they play.

Q. Do you wear your NCAA championship ring or have it locked away?
A. I actually gave it to my dad to hold on for me. He has always been there for me and I thought it would be pretty cool if he kept it for me.

Q. At what point in your hockey career did you begin to believe that the NHL was an attainable goal for you?
A. I think it was when I got drafted back while playing juniors. I never thought I was going to be drafted, but when I did, it made me really think that maybe I could make it one day.

Q. You are a bit older than some of the other rookies in last year’s Avs “youth corps”(Matt Duchene, T.J. Galiardi and Ryan O'Reilly). How do you explain so many first-year and second-year players performing so well ? Was it Joe Sacco’s system?
A. Joe did a very good job in working with everyone, but really gave the rookies a lot of responsibility and held us just as accountable as the older veterans. So I think that helped us out a lot, maturing wise. I also think the veterans did a good job in leading us in the right
direction and giving some great advice as the season went on.

Q. Your top NHL thrill thus far?
A. My first goal. I will never forget it.

Q. What aspects of your game are you looking to improve on next season? What are your personal goals for the coming year?
A. I’m looking to improve all parts of my game, but focusing on getting faster and keeping up a fast pace throughout the entire game. Training during this offseason is going to be key.

Q. Just as you were at BU, you’ve become a fan favorite in Denver. How do you explain that?
A. I have no idea. I just like to play the game and I enjoy meeting new people along the way. Maybe the last name catches people's attention… who knows?

Q. Bernie Corbett pointed out during a BU broadcast that you were especially productive in games when your parents were at the game –whether in Boston or at the Denver Cup. Can you explain that? Did the pattern continue when they attended your NHL games?
A. Yeah I love it when my parents can make it to the games. Being in Boston, it was pretty far away from Vancouver, so my parents were limited in seeing most of my games. They would always listen or watch on the Internet, but when they were physically there, its always special. They are the biggest reasons for my success thus far, so I always try and give them a thrill when they come.

Q. You’re not the first NHL player to emerge from Maple Ridge? Who are some of the others?

A. Yeah, we have a lot of athletes come from our town: Cam Neely, Brenden Morrison, Andrew Ladd, Greg Moore, Larry Walker, and many others. Maple Ridge is a great community and we take a lot of pride in our sports.

Q. As training camp approaches, have you been thinking about the prospect of having a couple of former BU teammates—Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, Zach Cohen, Dave VanderGulik—join you as an Av?
A. Yeah I think it is pretty cool that we have a strong BU connection in Colorado. I think that says a lot about the program at BU. Can’t wait to see all the boys soon.

Q&A wth Brad Zancanaro

Former BU co-captain Brad Zancanaro answered our questions about participating in the REPLAY THE SERIES restaging of a suspended 1999 game between his Trenton High School team and rival Catholic Central.

Q. What was your reaction when you heard about the possibility of replaying the game?
A. The kid who put the application in emailed me to see if i would be interested. At first I wasn't too excited about it because I thought it might be kind of cheesy...but he had me go to the Web site and watch the previous year's show. The first season turned out really well, so I figure it could be fun, and all the guys from the team that year were pretty excited about it.

Q. You had retired from pro hockey due to an injury a few years ago. Were you still playing hockey in an adult league?
A. I quit hockey because I had a few concussions and it took me a while to feel better. But I had been playing men’s league around Boston the past couple years. BU Hockey Alumni also have skates on Sunday mornings every once in a while during the winter.

Q. How big a challenge was getting back into game shape?
A. I have stayed in pretty good shape but wasn't used to getting hit or doing drills. I had to go back to Michigan for a "combine" weekend where our high school coach ran practices. It had been two years since I had participated in an actual practice, but it didn’t take long to get back into it. It was different for the other guys though. Most of them haven't practiced or been hit since high school. A couple guys lost a lot of weight. Both teams took it pretty seriously and the game was pretty intense, so it was important that everyone got into the best shape possible.

Q. How does the Trenton--CC rivalry compare with BU-BC?
A. There aren't a lot of the rivalries that compare to the BU-BC rivalry. But, for high school hockey in Michigan, nothing compares to Trenton-CC. Both teams are powerhouses and it seems like we used to switch off winning the state championships every year. We would play CC twice during the regular season each year. The games were always packed and just as intense as BU-BC games....it was the same type of feeling. CC is a Catholic school and recruits kids from all over the state come to play, and we are a public school that doesn't allow kids from other cities attend school there.. I think that added to the rivalry because there was a lot of pride involved for us because we were playing for our town.

Q. So, how cool was the experience of rejoining your high school teammates for a serious-game rematch with CC ?
A. Hockey has given me the opportunity to do a lot of things other people don’t get to do in their lives, but the Replay experience was by far one of the coolest things hockey has allowed me to do. It was great to go back and play high school hockey again! Not many people get a chance to do that. For our practices, our coach was running the same drills that we did 11 years ago and we even did the same traditions from 11 years ago. When given a second chance like that, people wanted to make the most of it. Both teams took it very seriously. No one was expecting the level of play to be what it was for the game, including myself. A lot of people have told me that it was one of the most exciting games that have seen in awhile and that the level of play was great to watch. We had a sold out crowd and we had our whole town behind us. The game had the same rivalry feeling that the games 11 years ago had. We were down 2-1 going into the third and we were able to pull out a 4-2 win. We had a big celebration with old friends and family that night...it rivaled the ones we had at the Dugout after Beanpot victories!

Terrier Ice Hockey Olympians

All on Team USA unless otherwise noted.

2010 VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA
Chris Drury
Ryan Whitney

2006 TURIN, ITALY
Rick DiPietro
Chris Drury
Keith Tkachuk

2002 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Tony Amonte, Silver
Chris Drury, Silver
Tom Poti, Silver
Keith Tkachuk, Silver
Scott Young, Silver

1998 NAGANO, JAPAN
Tony Amonte
Keith Tkachuk

1994 LILLEHAMMER, NORWAY
Adrian Aucoin (Canada), Silver
John Lilley
David Sacco

1992 ALBERTVILLE, FRANCE
Clark Donatelli
Scott Lachance
Shawn McEachern
Joe Sacco
Keith Tkachuk
Scott Young
* David Quinn

1988 CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA
Clark Donatelli
Scott Young

1984 SARAJEVO, YUGOSLAVIA
Grant Goegan (Italy)

1980 LAKE PLACID, N.Y.
Mike Eruzione, Gold
Jim Craig, Gold
Jack O’Callahan, Gold
Dave Silk, Gold
Herb Wakabayashi (Japan)
Dick Decloe (Netherlands)

1976 INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA
Dick Lamby
Herb Wakabayashi (Japan)

1972 SAPPORO, JAPAN
Tim Regan, Silver
Herb Wakabayashi (Japan)

1968 GRENOBLE, FRANCE
Olivier Prechac (France)

1960 SQUAW VALLEY, CALIF.
Dick Rodenhiser, Gold

1956 CORTINA, ITALY
Dick Rodenhiser, Silver

1952 OSLO, NORWAY
Joseph “Red” Czarnota Silver

1948 ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND
Jack Garrity

1936 GARMISCH-PORTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY
John Lax, Bronze
Paul Rowe, Bronze

*– Played for Team USA during exhibition schedule, but was cut
before the team went to France.

The Beanpot’s identical twin

Four decades younger, the Beanpot trophy’s replica shines as bright as the original


By Jon Brodkin, BU 2000

On Monday night, a famous, sparkling trophy called the Beanpot will be awarded to the best college hockey team in Boston.

The trophy will be instantly recognizable to fans of Boston University or Boston College, but it is not the same one skated around the ice by the heroic likes of Mike Eruzione, Jack O’Callahan, John Cunniff, Wayne Turner and Chris Drury.

Although the tournament began in 1952, the actual trophy presented to modern day winners was made less than five years ago. After decades of wear and tear, and the occasional incident involving a winning team misplacing the trophy, Beanpot tournament officials decided the original pot was too precious to risk any further.


The original is in good shape, says Steve Nazro, tournament director and vice president of events at the TD Garden, but “it’s too valuable” to actually give to the winners for a full year. “To have any chance of having it stolen, or held hostage would be a big deal,” he says.

The Beanpot’s history features stories of players using the trophy as an ashtray, players throwing it out a dorm window during a celebration party, and at least one winning school simply having no idea where the trophy was when it came time to return it a week before the next year’s tournament.


The stories may be true and they may be false, but they add to the lore of the tournament and the silver pot, just as mishaps involving the Stanley Cup enrich that trophy’s history.


The Beanpot has also served as a touchstone in emotionally charged circumstances, such as when the victorious Northeastern Huskies presented the trophy in 1984 to Terry Flaman, the cancer-stricken son of their coach who, sitting in a wheelchair, had given the team a pre-game pep talk. Then in the late 1990s the BU Terriers celebrated several Beanpot wins with Travis Roy, who had been paralyzed in October 1995 in his first game as a freshman.


As much as the Beanpot meant to players and coaches, at some point Boston Garden officials stopped letting the winners take the Beanpot home with them in case it was lost or damaged. I remember hearing about one team – I think it was the 2001 Boston College Eagles - whose players and coaches were boarding the bus expecting to take the trophy back to campus and were surprised to learn that was not allowed.


Nazro and his team solved the problem a few months before the 2006 tournament. Beanpot officials decided the best way to allow the winning team to keep the trophy was to create a replica that would look exactly like the original, down to the smallest detail. That replica, created by Marlborough Foundry Inc. in Marlborough, Mass, is the one that will be presented on the Garden ice Monday night and given to the winners to keep until next year’s tournament.


In late 2005, Garden officials brought the beanpot portion of the Beanpot trophy – the bottom part which has engravings of the yearly winners was removed - to Marlborough Foundry, where a mold of the original was created. Fittingly, the metal for a replica was poured into the mold by Steve Postizzi, a 33-year-old who played high school hockey and attended the Beanpot as a child.


“I wanted to make sure I was the guy who poured the metal into the mold, so I could say that,” Postizzi says.


While the original Beanpot was made of iron, the replica is aluminum, and is thus quite a bit lighter than the trophy skated around in decades gone by. While Nazro says there is nothing wrong with the original, Postizzi’s expert eye noticed the handles appear to have been snapped off in the past, and other repaired cracks were apparent when looking inside the Beanpot.

“It had been broken a couple times,” Postizzi says. “You can only weld and repair things so often before you start to diminish the integrity of the pot. … They wanted us to make a replica because the original was dropped too many times and they didn’t want to risk it any further.”



The original trophy’s exterior was buffed to keep it smooth, and overall Postizzi says “it was in good condition, but they didn’t want any more dings and dents in it.”


Creating the new Beanpot cost about $700 or $800, mostly for labor, and took a few days. Marlborough Foundry kept the original Beanpot for a couple of weeks in total, including time for planning, says Postizzi, who has worked in the family foundry business since the age of 18. Once Marlborough Foundry was done with the replica Beanpot it was passed on to Lubin’s trophy shop in Newton, where engraving and other final details were taken care of.


I’ve attended the Beanpot nearly every year since 1995 and never learned until this month that the iconic trophy had been replaced, because the story has largely remained untold.


Nazro says the replacement of the original pot hasn’t received much attention, other than a one-paragraph piece that appeared in Boston Magazine in February 2007. That article, titled “The Beanpot’s Trusty Body Double,” says the original trophy “is still the crowd pleaser, since that’s what the winning team hoists for its celebratory skate.” If the article is correct, then the only reason the replica was created was so the winning team would have a copy to keep in its trophy case while the original stayed at the garden and was presented to the winners on the ice.


Nazro says it’s possible that was true in 2007, but is certainly not true today – the replica is definitely the one handed out on the ice to the winning team.


“The replica is locked in a closet with the other awards, ready to be given out,” Nazro told me Friday.


Postizzi was told by Garden officials that the replica would replace the original for on-ice presentations once it was ready, so it may be that that the last time the original was presented was in February 2005, when Ray Bourque’s son Chris won the trophy for BU with an overtime goal against Northeastern.


You might think tournament participants would be upset about the original Beanpot being replaced, but Nazro says they “were thrilled … now they can display it in their trophy case.”

After winning the NCAA Division 1 ice hockey championship in April 2009, Boston University held several events, including a parade and banner-raising ceremony, showing off all six trophies the team won the previous season. Without the Beanpot replica, those celebrations might have been missing one very important trophy.


There is certainly precedent for famous trophies being replaced with replicas. The FA Cup, the oldest football (you know, soccer) competition in the world has awarded a replica trophy since 1992. And there are actually three Stanley Cups: the fragile original, first presented in 1893 and now encased in glass in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto; the “presentation cup” awarded to winners since the early 1960s; and a replica later created for display at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Marlborough Foundry was almost asked to make another replica Beanpot trophy, when the Hall of Fame called the Garden about getting a Beanpot for display. For reasons unclear to Nazro, the deal was never completed.


“We responded and offered to do whatever they wanted. … We got all excited about it but they [the Hall of Fame officials] never followed through,” Nazro said.


Surprisingly, it’s not even clear when the original Beanpot was created. The first rendition of the tournament took place in December 1952 at Boston Arena (now, Matthews Arena, Northeastern’s home stadium) and its official name was the New England Invitational Hockey Tournament. Even though there wasn’t a trophy that first year, the 1952 contest featuring BU, BC, Harvard and Northeastern was nicknamed the “Beanpot” in press stories, presumably as a reference to Boston’s love of baked beans.


At some point after the tournament moved to Boston Garden, which occurred in January 1954, a beanpot was acquired to serve as a trophy. Nazro says he doesn’t know which year the beanpot was purchased.


College hockey historian Bernard Corbett wrote the best history of the Beanpot in 2002, a book called “The Beanpot: 50 years of Thrills, Spills, and Chills.”

The book quotes Harvard official Carroll Getchell as saying “do you know we went for a few years without a trophy? Then finally, one, day, [Boston Garden owner] Walter [Brown] said, ‘Why the devil don’t we have a Beanpot Trophy?’ So now we have this large silver Beanpot.”


“The trophy problem was solved by legendary Garden troubleshooter Tony Nota, who managed to acquire one,” Corbett’s book continues.


The earliest picture of a Beanpot trophy featured in the book was of Red Martin, Boston College’s “58-minute man” who won the tournament in 1959 and 1961. He is pictured holding an actual ceramic beanpot.


“After using a humble ceramic jug for more than a decade, Beanpot officials finally switched to a proper silver version, cast from the original,” Boston Magazine’s February 2007 article states.
Photographs from various sources show that the silver-colored version fans know today has been in use since at least 1965, the year current BC coach Jerry York first suited up for the Eagles and one season before BU coach Jack Parker first skated for the Terriers.


1966 was the first year in which the winning team not only accepted the trophy, but also skated it around the ice to show off to fans in the student section. BU senior captain Dennis O’Connell is credited with starting the tradition.


The trophy was originally fitted with a single ring below the pot to engrave the names of winning schools, and a second ring was added in the mid-1980s, making the trophy noticeably larger.


The Beanpot wasn’t always handled with the same level of care it enjoys today. Postizzi says one of the Garden officials told him the Beanpot was lost in the 80s and eventually found in a bush outside a BC dorm. BC only won the Beanpot once in the 1980s, so if the story is true that would have occurred in 1983.


Postizzi was also told some players used the trophy as an ashtray. Nazro has heard the same story.


“That’s lore. It may be true. I can’t say it isn’t,” Nazro says.

Nazro confirms that one school did lose the trophy. Garden officials called the school a week before the tournament and it turned out no one knew where the trophy was. It was eventually found “in some obscure case,” he says.

Nazro says that occurred before his time as the tournament director, which started in the early 1970s. If Nazro knows which school actually lost the trophy, he’s not saying publicly.


The stories mirror some of those told about the Stanley Cup, which has allegedly been lost and stolen various times, used as an ashtray, thrown into multiple swimming pools and, disturbingly, used as both a receptacle for chewing gum and urine, though one would hope not at the same time.


Those indignities won’t be happening to the original Beanpot any time soon. Most of the year it sits in a glass case with other Beanpot memorabilia at the TD Garden, on display for anyone with club level tickets. Nazro says no one’s ever actually tried to steal it, and a combination of alarms and 24-hour security would make it quite difficult.


The original was taken out of its case for the pre-Beanpot luncheon and “it’s in my office right now because we often get people who want to shoot it between now and the tournament,” Nazro says. It’s no surprise so many people want a picture of the Beanpot. Winning the Beanpot isn’t as great an achievement as prevailing in the Hockey East or NCAA tournaments, but the trophy itself may be the most unique and aesthetically pleasing in all of college hockey.


On Monday night, the original Beanpot will be in safe-keeping while the Boston University Terriers and Boston College Eagles renew their fierce rivalry. The winner will be presented a trophy that looks exactly like the historic cup BU coach Jack Parker and BC coach Jerry York fought over when they skated for their alma maters more than 40 years ago. It is not, in fact, the same piece of silverware but the replica will forever be a part of the Beanpot tournament’s storied history.

The author of this article can be reached at beanpot.replica@gmail.com

Terriers in the World Junior Championships

Tony Amonte-- Forward 1989, 1990
Pat Aufiero-- Defense 2000
Shawn Bates-- Forward 1995
Chris Bourque-- Forward 2005, 2006^
Rich Brennan-- Defense 1992
Dan Cavanaugh-- Forward 2000
Jon Coleman-- Defense 1994
Cleon Daskalakis-- Goalie 1981
Tom Dion--Defense 1989
Rick DiPietro--Goalie 2000, 2001*
Clark Donatelli--Forward 1984, 1985
Chris Drury--Forward 1996
Mike Grier--Forward 1995
Gregg Johnson--Forward 2002
Jeff Kealty--Defense 1996
Mike Kelfer--Forward 1986, 1987
Chris Kelleher--Defense 1995
Bob Lachance--Forward 1994
Scott Lachance--Defense 1991, 1992
Dan LaCouture--Forward 1997
Mike Lappin--Forward 1989
John Lilley--Forward 1992
Brian McConnell--Forward 2003
Freddy Meyer--Defense 2001
Paul Miller--Forward 1977
Chris O’Sullivan--Defense 1994
Jay Octeau--efense 1985
Jay Pandolfo--Forward 1994
Mike Pandolfo--Forward 1999
Mike Pomichter--Forward 1993
Tom Poti--Defense 1996, 1997
Mike Prendergast--Forward 1992
David Quinn--Defense 1986
John Sabo--Forward 2000, 2001
Joe Sacco--Forward 1989
Kevin Shattenkirk--Defense 2009
Brian Strait--Defense 2008
Mike Sullivan--Forward 1988
Mike Sylvia--Forward 1996
Keith Tkachuk--Forward 1991, 1992
Ryan Whitney--Defense 2002, 2003
Colin Wilson--Forward 2008, 2009
Scott Young--Forward 1985, 1986, 1987

BU-Cornell: The First Tie--Dec. 30, 1967

Dec. 30, 1966— Boston Arena—BU played two three-game tournaments in December 1966. A week after sweeping Princeton, Minnesota and Clarkson at the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, the Terriers skated on their home ice, Boston Arena, in the Arena Christmas Tournament.

They had beaten Harvard and Northeastern to improve to a 12-0 record and a #1 ranking. Meanwhile, Cornell dispatched the same two teams and was also undefeated at 11-0 and ranked #2, setting up what is considered one of the greatest college hockey games ever played.

Both squads were far from fresh as they were about to play for the third time in as many days before a capacity crowd of 5,450. The officials for the game were Giles Threadgold and Bill Clearly, later coach and athletic director at Harvard.

According to the Ithaca Journal, “Cornell had a wide edge in territorial play in a penalty-marred first period, but the Terriers capitalized on their opportunities and thwarted the Big Red''s power plays.”

All three first-period goals came on power plays. Cornell drew first blood just 2:13 into the game. With two Terriers in the penalty box, Harry Orr took a pass from Mike Doran and beat goalie Wayne Ryan.

BU senior Jim Quinn scored the equalizer four minutes later, converting a feed from Fred Bassi. Then, with half a minute left in the period and BU up two men, a Brian Gilmour slapper whizzed past Cornell goalie Ken Dryden for a 2-1 Terrier lead.

Cornell regained the lead early in the second on a pair of goals by Bob Ferguson and Skip Stanowski. Ryan got a glove both shots but couldn’t keep them out of the net. Play raged up and down the ice throughout the period with 33 shots taken, but no further goals.

The pattern continued well into the third period with Dryden keeping BU’s high-scoring ”Pinball Line” of Herb Wakabayashi, Mickey Gray and Serge Boily off the scoresheet. Finally, in the latter part of the period, BU got the tying goal from an unlikely source, sophomore defenseman Darrell Abbott.

“I think there were about 3 or 4 minutes left in the third period and we were losing 3-2 when either Pete McLachlan or Brian Gilmour—our two veteran, all-star defensemen—got a penalty, and the other, shortly before that penalty, had been injured,” Abbott recalls. “Coach [Jack]Kelley had no choice but to put the two rookies—Billy Hinch and me--out together. It was the first time Billy and I had played together as a pair so I'm sure Coach was more than a little concerned.

“Cornell dumped the puck into our end in the process of making a slow line change. Billy set up in front, while I picked up the puck behind our net, fully expecting to look up and ice it, seeing as how we were a man short.

“But when I looked up there was only one Cornell player standing at center ice and the others were just coming over the boards. With no pressure I began to skate up ice only to realize that I could beat this guy. At this point everything happened so fast. There I was, going in on a partial breakaway and, contrary to all logic, I roofed a backhander into the net over Dryden’s shoulder on the short side to tie the game.”

The game went to a 10-minute overtime and, the Ithaca Journal reported, “Cornell had the edge in the first three minutes of the first overtime with Ryan making a sensational save on Doran from in close, but BU outskated the Big Red during the last seven minutes. Dryden had brilliant saves on Boily and Bill Hinch late in the period.”

The two coaches agreed to play one more overtime period, but neither of the weary teams mounted much of an attack in the second overtime and the teams were declared tournament co-champions. Goalies Ryan (32 saves) and Dryden (40 saves) shared the MVP award.

Abbott added that “It was the first game that my Father had attended at BU so it was even more special for me. He was sitting in the first row balcony, right above our bench. Of course having seen the success that Ken had subsequent to his days at Cornell, I feel I was very fortunate to have scored at all, but it is amazing how many people remember that goal even to this day. I was especially honored by the fact that Ken still remembered me years later, even after all the Stanley Cups and the Russian experiences. His comment to me was ‘I always remember the big ones’.”