Boston Garden.

THE home of Boston sports.

Listen hard enough and you can still hear the raspy voice of Johnny Most bouncing through the rafters....

"There's a steal by Bird.... passes off to DJ, lays it up and in!"

Squint hard enough and there's Bobby Orr, frozen horizontally in time after his overtime goal beat the Blues for the Stanley Cup.

So much history in the old barn on Cause-way street--just look at the banners on the ceiling. No less than 16 Celtic NBA Championships, five Bruin Stanley Cups, and 21 retired jersey numbers (with the recent inclusion of Larry Legend) immortalized in cloth above.

But the only banner that meant anything for me last night was the one that said "Beanpot Tournament Since 1952", and I was about one period late for the consolation game, so I needed get to work. I wasn't carrying my note pad and tape recorder for nothing....

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Boston Garden holds about 14,500 people when filled to capacity, but 20 minutes into the Boston College--Northeastern game, I could almost count the number of non-ushers in the building on one hand. One thing about Boston hockey fans--they know a lemon when they see one. Number three in the nation against number five is one thing; the dregs of Hockey East sloshing through the Beanpot consolation game is another.

As the fans slowly filed in for the big BU-Harvard duel, the name-calling was already beginning. At center ice, a Crimson fan wearing a Bob Sweeney-lettered shirt tried to match wits with a cluster of about 10 Terrier fans; sad to say, the BU bums were outdueling him. "Let's go Radcliffe!" and "R-P-I!" screamed the crazed Terriers, and after swallowing my pride I condescended to meet the ringleader, one Tony Biscardi, a BU alum and first-year grad student.

What possesses one to go insane over a hockey game, I wondered. Somewhat surprisingly, his answer was coherent.

"First of all, you have two of the top teams in the nation going at it," said Biscardi. "So first and foremost, it's a good hockey matchup.

"Secondly, outside of a Tuesday matchup in November [won by BU 4-3], these two teams never meet each other, and there's always the argument over which one is better. Records versus strength of schedule, national rankings, and on it goes. It's so close; if we thought it was going to be a blowout, we'd never get this vocal." (Tell that to BC, I thought.)

"As for playing in the Garden, you know that 14,000 people are hanging on every play, TV-38 is broadcasting the game throughout Boston, and extensive media coverage makes for one intense atmosphere. It brings out the best both in the players and the crowd."

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Those who blew off the opener missed an excellent third period of hockey. Northeastern scored three times in the last 20 minutes to rally for a 4-3 win, Jason Melong scoring the winner with 4:53 left.

And talk about a real climax--BC won a draw deep in the Husky zone with 1.9 seconds left and their goalie pulled. The puck came straight to Eagle captain Jack Callahan, who fired point-blank from the slot in search of a hat-trick for himself and overtime for his team. But goalie Mike Vesior came up big, and Northeastern, took home all the beans that a third-place pot can hold.

****

Sign to remember from the final game:

B.low

U.s (Harvard #1)

Chant to remember of the final game:

"You're no Ted!" to BU junior defenseman Dan Donato. (But really, who is?)

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One of the unique qualities of the Garden is the lack of a restraining wall between the TV booth and the balcony seats. If you are so inclined, you can visit with the announcers between periods, who are unfailingly accommodating to their fans. At earlier Bruin games this year, I had already met some of the great voices in hockey: Mike Emrick and Bill Clement (Flyers) Sam Rosen and John Davidson (Rangers), and Pat Foley and Dale Tallon (Blackhawks). So during the first break in the Beanpot final, it was up to the booth again, this time to meet Sean McDonough.

Many of you may know McDonough better from his baseball telecasts for CBS and TV-38. Indeed, his versatility makes him one of the hottest commodities in sports television--he can handle hockey, baseball, college basketball, and even football (anybody else out there see the Independence Bowl?) in a pinch, and handle them well. I just wanted to ask him about his famous voice-crack as he called "SAFE!" when Sid Bream gave the Atlanta Braves the National League Pennant earlier this year--in his words, "I about went through the roof on that one."

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What common ground did Terrier and Crimson fans meet upon during the Beanpot finals? Well, we did get two unified groans last night--both connected with the NHI, scoreboard. The Bruins lost to Pittsburgh 4-0--that got a moan of disapproval. But it was the Ottawa-Buffalo score that was so surprising; 4-2 Senators, and the crowd chuckled in delight. Look out, Sabre fans--Ottawa is only 42 points from your fourth playoff spot in the Adams division....

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Sitting next to me throughout the game was a living reminder that not every Harvard hockey fan is totally clued in to his or her team. Jim Clifford, '64, veteran of 15 Beanpots, was commenting about the differences of playing on the smaller Garden ice surface.

"The smaller rink is a definite disadvantage for a team like Harvard who relies on skating over brawn," Clifford said.

Hey, Jim, Steve Flomenhoft wants to do his Tie Domi imitation for you.

****

As the last few seconds sweetly ticked away, I wanted to be on the ice for the awards presentation. Tough enough, I figured, as I didn't have any kind of media pass for the locker room area.

But it's amazing what a coat, a tie, a steno pad and an attitude can do for you...just as I had snuck into the press room earlier, I got through security and onto the BU bench to watch Drury and Coach Ronn Tomassoni raise the Beanpot on high from up close.

For those of us who will never be good enough to play in the Garden, that's got to be the next best thing.

Only 364 days until the next Beanpot, and my mouth already salivates for that opening round matchup. Harvard vs. Boston University.

And I've got my first chant already prepared It's simple. It's to the point: It sucks to B.U.