For Mike Eruzione, winning the Beanpot ranks up there with his Olympic gold medal. Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni knows that it is the one prize his alumni want most.

For Harvard hockey players and fans, the last two Beanpots have run the gamut of emotions.

Two years ago, captain Ted Drury (now playing with the Hartford Whalers) scored two goals and netminder Tripp Tracy '96 stood on his head with death-defying saves to defeat heavily-favored Boston University, 4-2.

But last season the Crimson came down on the other end of an upset, as Boston College downed Harvard in overtime, 2-1, when Tom Ashe's slap shot from the blue line eluded Harvard goalie Aaron Israel.

Yes, the memories are always thick at the Beanpot, where college hockey hands out the bragging rights for Boston. And this year, as the tournament makes its last visit to the Boston Garden, they are thicker than ever.

After 41 Beanpots (the first two were in Boston Arena) and a few other notable sporting events, the Garden will close this summer to make way for the adjacent Shawmut Center. And the Beanpot will go with it.

"This is the end of Chapter 1: The garden Years," Northeastern coach Ben Smith said at the pre-tournament luncheon last week.

B.U. (11-4-3) meets Northeastern (8-6-4) in the opener at 6 p.m. Monday. Harvard (11-7-1) will try to avenge last year's loss when it squares off against B.C. (7-9-2) in the nightcap, which is scheduled to start at 9 p.m.

The finals and consolation game will be the following week.

For Harvard to avenge its heart breaking 1994Beanpot loss tonight, it will have to find a wayto beat Eagle goalie Greg Taylor. Taylor was namedthe MVP of last year's tournament, and he hasalready broken the Hockey East single-game saverecord with his 60 stops in a loss to B.U. back inJanuary.

"We faced some pretty good goaltending over theweekend, and we will face another good goalietonight," Tomassoni said.

After having 20 days off, the Crimson lost toPrinceton Friday and defeated Yale Saturday, sotonight's match should test the team'sconditioning.

B.C., on the other hand, only played on Friday.

The one break Harvard got was that Saturday'sgame was an afternoon affair, so the players wereat least able to eat and rest up Saturday night.

"We're certainly not where we were heading intoexams," Tomassoni said. "But I want to thank [YaleCoach] Tim Taylor for agreeing to play anafternoon game. He didn't have to do that, but hedid it in the best interests of the ECAC."

Harvard has won the Beanpot nine times andfinished second 13 times.

B.C. brings in a rookie coach but a Beanpotveteran: Jerry York's over time goal in the 1965opening round set up the Eagles' third title in arow.

Ashe's goal last year gave B.C. its first titlein 11 tries.

Terrier Tradition

B.U., this year's favorite, has made the titlegame 27 of the last 31 years and won 17 overall,the most of any team. But the Terriers haven't wonsince 1992; B.U. has gone four years without atitle only once since the early 60s.

Coach Jack Parker, who grew up in Somerville,said he never saw a Beanpot until he went to B.U.and won the tournament three times. "I canremember those games more than any games I'vecoached," he said.

"There's people that actually think this is theend of the season," he said. "We'd win the Beanpotand people would say, 'Great. How's your teamgoing to be next year?'''

Tomassoni agreed. he was a Harvard assistant in1989 when the Crimson broke an eight-year Beanpotslump before going on to win their first NCAAtitle ever.

"We had a lot of local alumni who really weremore proud that we won the Beanpot that year thanthe national championship," he said.

That's something Eruzione can understand. Heremembers the excitement of skating on the Gardenice for the first time, looking up and seeing allof the Bruins and Celtics championship banners.

And no thrill, he said, will top skating aroundthat same ice with the Beanpot trophy after B.U.won the 1975 title.

"Emotionally, you can only feel so good aboutyourself, or so good inside," he said. "Andwinning a Beanpot, I felt just as proud and justas satisfied as I did winning a gold medal.

"The gold medal, the scope of it is bigger,because more people watch it. But the Beanpot...you only have so much joy in your body. It'ssomething that's very special."

Parker, the winningest coach in Beanpot historywith a 29-13 record and nine titles, nearly brokeinto tears while recounting some of his favoriteBeanpot stories.

"You know that you're going to have the samefour teams in it. You know that you're going to beplaying against guys you knew in high school," hesaid. "These are games you're going to rememberand you want to remember. You're going to seethese guys for the next 40 years.

"It's an aside to the hockey season. And yetit's the biggest aside of all. It's special. Andthis one will be more special than most. And forthat reason I think your guys will be even morepumped up to represent the final Garden Beanpotchampions."

This story was compiled with the help of APdispatches.Crimson File PhotoJunior TRIPP TRACY lunges to cover the puckin Harvard's 1993 Beanpot championship win overB.U.