B.C. is the only Hockey East team which Harvard plays in a regularly scheduled game.

"Harvard is one of our feature games," said Boston College Assistant Athletic Director Ed Carroll, who is a former Eagle iceman himself, having captained the 1955-56 B.C. team. "Harvard is always one of our best opponents."

The intensity of the rivalry is augmented by the fact that B.C. squad is traditionally made up of predominantly local talent. This year, all but two of the Eagles hail from the greater Boston area.

"It adds a little intensity to the game," Crimson Captain Scott Fusco commented. Fusco, Harvard's second leading scorer with 32 points, grew up in Burlington.

"I was recruited by B.C.," Fusco added. "They offered me a scholarship, and it basically came down up deciding between the scholarship and an Ivy League school.

"I grew up playing against most of the guys on B.C.," Fusco said.

Where last year Fusco and linemates Lane MacDonald and Tim Smith were forced to carry most of the scoring load for the Crimson, this season the first line has been reinforced by a potent second unit of Allen Bourbeau centering Tim Barakett and Ed Krayer.

Both Bourbeau and Krayer are local heroes as well, hailing from Teaticket and Acton respectively.

At Acton-Boxboro Regional High School, Bourbeau was heavily recruited, having the pick of any hockey school in the East.

"B.C. recruited me," Bourbeau said. "I was interested because Bobby Sweeney and Kevin Houle play for them, and I played with those guys in high school."

Bourbeau, a sophomore and Harvard's leading scorer, will be playing in his first Beanpot game tonight, but he is no stranger to Boston Garden ice, where he played in several high school state tournament games.

"The Garden's a great place to play," he said. "There's a mystique about it."

"I think the Beanpot gives extra incentive to a player from the area. If you grew up with it, hearing about it and watching it, there is a little more emotion involved."

John Devin, Grant Blair's backup in the Harvard net, echoes the hometown sentiment. Devin was in net the last time the Crimson met the Eagles in the Beanpot--the consolation game of last year's tournament.

The game was uncharacteristic of Beanpot consolations, usually lackadaisical affairs. Harvard outlasted a four-goal B.C. rally to nick the Eagles 6-5.