The first two Monday nights in February, each of Boston's college hockey heavyweights--Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern--slug it out in the cavernous Boston Garden for what amounts to the neighborhood championship.

The desire to earn neighborhood bragging rights by beating up the local bully is what the Beanpot tournament is all about.

And for the past several years that bully has invariably been the Eagles of Boston College.

Riding the crest of the first Hockey East championship, and a berth in the 1985 NCAA final four, B.C. has continued on its winning path right on into the 1985-86 season.

Its abundance of locally culled talent and its reputation as Boston's metropolitan college team has perennially cast B.C. as the tournament favorite.

The Beanpot is a notorious boon for underdogs, but this year, all four of the teams sport winning records and three of them--B.C., Harvard and Northeastern--are ranked in the top 10 in most national polls.

And this year, the nomination for knocking off the local tough guy falls upon the Crimson of Harvard. The Cantabs will have to out-bully a powerful Eagle squad in the late game (9 p.m., Boston Garden) tonight to earn its first final berth since 1981.

But that is a task easier spoken of than accomplished. The Eagles are currently ranked sixth nationally and have already played Harvard once this year. The squads battled to a 4-4 tie November 26 before a packed Bright Center.

Harvard can expect little comfort from playing in the Garden, where the Crimson is traditionally far from the fan favorite.

However, the nature of the Harvard-B.C. rivalry, which covers 82 games extending back to the 1918-1919 season, promises that any contest between the two teams will be an emotion-filled battle.

"It's always been a fun rivalry," Eagle Head Coach Len Ceglarski said. "We've had three close games the last couple of years. Anyone who attended the first game over at Harvard got their money's worth."

That game showcased perfectly the contrast in the two teams' styles. B.C., physically bigger than the Crimson, prefers to play a close checking, physical game while putting as many shots as possible on the opponents' net. The Eagles bombarded Harvard goalie Grant Blair, who made a season-high 45 saves in the contest.

Harvard, on the other hand, prefers to play a freewheeling style with emphasis on team speed instead of brute force. The Crimson likes to control the puck with short, crisp passes rather than trying to barrage the opposing goaltender.

So far, Crimson Coach Bill Cleary's designs have been devastating to ECAC rivals. Harvard leads the league with a 12-2 record, and stands at 12-4-1 overall. The Eagles, owners of a 17-9-2 overall record, are currently in a dog-fight with Northeastern's Huskies for first-place in the newly formed Hockey East league, now in its second year of existence.

Both Harvard and B.C. made a point of keeping their hockey rivalry intact despite the fact that they now play in different leagues. The two schools have made permanent reservations on each other's schedules in addition to the Beanpot.

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.

"The consolation game may not seem like a big deal, but it was still a great thrill to be playing in Boston Garden," said Devin, who grew up in Braintree.

"I've been watching the Beanpot for 15 years. It's a big event around Boston. You've got 15,000 fans watching you play in the Garden, and anyone who grew up playing hockey in New England dreams of playing there."

Does this mean that B.C., in light of the fact that virtually all of its players are from the Boston area, has a home advantage?

"I don't think so," Fusco answered. "The fact that Northeastern's won two in a row with almost all Canadians proves that isn't true."

And if the Eagles don't have an advantage stemming from their hometown roots, then doesn't their size give them an edge on the smaller ice surface of the Garden?

"Yes and no," Fusco replied. "A quick team on a small ice surface can be very effective."

"If it's an advantage, then it's a very small one," Bourbeau added. "B.C.'s a skating team too."

According to Fusco, "If we use our speed, it will look like we have seven or eight guys on the ice."

In any case, almost any performance will be an improvement on last year's opener, in which a flat Crimson squad was manhandled by a slower, but bigger B.U. team, 5-3.

"Last year we didn't come out ready to play," Fusco commented. "We didn't start playing until halfway through the second period, and by then it was too late."

"This year we will be a little bit looser," he added. "We'll be ready."

The action gets underway tonight following the Northeastern-B.U. prelude which starts at 6:15 p.m. The winners go to next Monday night's championship to battle for the title of king of Boston's college hockey playground.

The losers go to the consolation and the long wait until next year