More of the Same

That Northeastern tally wasn't as demoralizing as the shot from center ice that beat Grant Blair a year ago in the opening round, but it was a little omen: "This year's gonna be the same."

And with all due respect to the Crimson's last-minute flurry, it was.

"I don't think we deserved to win," Crimson Captain Peter Chiarelli said. "We only played well in the last two minutes of the third period."

The game before the nine o'clock game is played during rush hour in front of a tiny crowd in the cavernous Garden. By the time the final period starts, the crowd for the real game begins to roll in.

The hordes start to work their way to their seats as they chat about the real game.

All this while the two losers do their Hail Mary's on the ice.

The contest gets about as much attention as the pee-wees who sometimes play before the Bruins game. For those little kids to be on the Garden ice is a thrill of a lifetime for the consolation kids, it's just nightmare. For the fans, it's a distraction.

Harvard fans can stay home Monday. The Harvard players have no choice. They have to show.

Now it doesn't matter that fourth-ranked B.C. and second-ranked Harvard were in the Beanpot. A pair of unranked squads will be taking center stage Monday, after the Eagles and Crimson sweep out the theater.

For many Crimson players--the ones from Canada and the West--the Beanpot was no big deal when they first came here.

After four first-round losses, that's changed.

"It didn't mean so much at the beginning, but it's different now that we've gotten so, so close," Chiarelli said.

For the local boys like Butch Cutone who've grown up watching the 'Pot, the failure to find the finals was excrutiating. They came to Harvard for the opportunity to play for the 'Pot while Boston watched.

Now they can only wonder.

"The final game must be a lot of fun," Cutone said with the look of someone who'll never know.