BOSTON--Thrills. Spills. A chase scene in the best of Hollywood traditions. And a climactic finish that saw the best team win--but only just barely.

This was the championship game of the 45th Beanpot Tournament, a draining affair worth remembering just as much as the earlier Harvard-Northeastern game was worth forgetting.

Boston University had to chase a game it seemed likely to lose for a long time, but at the end of 60 emotional minutes the Terriers had shaved the Boston College Eagles, 4-2.

All of B.U.'s goals came in the third period, the third of which, coming from Tournament MVP Bill Pierce on a breakaway with 8:24 remaining, broke a 2-2 tie.

Chris Drury's empty-netter at 19:47 provided the final margin; with the win, Jack Parker's Terriers (17-6-5) won their third consecutive Beanpot title; Jerry York's Eagles (11-15-3) were left clutching at straws which for much of the game seemed within their reach.

Boston College got off to the better start. From the moment Marty Reasoner announced the Eagles' presence in the first minute of the game with a pair of point-blank chances, the Terriers looked nervous and the Eagles seemed pumped full of adrenaline.

In the end, the sole goal of the first period fell to B.C. senior Peter Masters, who beat Terriers goalie Tom Noble off a feed from his brother Chris at the 5:38 mark.

It was the elder Masters' first goal of the season, and through two periods it stood as the only goal for either team. This was largely the doing of Eagles' netminder Greg Taylor, who stopped all 27 shots on goal he faced in the game's first 40 minutes.

These were not the shots on goal of the 1997 Harvard Crimson; these were in-your-face, up-close-and-personal introductions from the likes of Chris Drury, who on four separate occasions in the second period was stopped from inside of five feet.

Sooner or later, B.U.'s relentless pressure had to tell, and it was lucky for the Eagles that they scored again before the Terriers responded. Reasoner's top-corner snipe at 1:25 of the third had all the trademarks of a game-winner--except that his opposition had no intentions of rolling over and dying.

Within 92 seconds of Reasoner's goal, it was 2-2. Taylor's touch left him for two fleeting moments, but first Dan LaCouture and then Brendan Walsh took advantage of sloppy B.C. defending to find separate paths to the back of Taylor's net.

"Greg did everything he needed to do to give us a chance to win the hockey game," B.C. coach Jerry York said after the game. "Even with us leading 2-0, I knew there was a lot of hockey to play; even at 2-2, we were very much still in it."

Everything to play for, then. Who would crack first? Sadly, B.C. would suffer in more ways than one. Though LaCouture's elbow to the head of Chris Masters deserved a penalty, it was Masters who left the ice--unconscious on a stretcher.

And then, with 8:24, the Eagles' defense was undone one last time.

Terrier freshman Chris Heron sent delightful touch pass to the streaking Pierce, who knocked the water bottle off of Taylor's top-shelf.

"No matter who won the game, there was going to be something good for our rivalry, and for college hockey in Boston," B.U. coach Jack Parker said, accurately as it turned out.