At the time, it just didn't seem fair.
During the 1992-1993 season, the Brown University women's hockey team had been invited to fill-in for Boston University in the 15th annual Women's Beanpot Championship. The Bears beat Harvard 2-1 in the opening round before emerging with a 3-0 victory over Northeastern in the championship game to clinch the Beanpot in the school's first-ever tournament appearance.
Unfortunately for Brown, it would stand as the school's lone showing at the Beanpot. The following season, Boston University took back their rightful place in the event, alongside fellow Boston schools Boston College, Harvard, and Northeastern. In a battle for regional supremacy, Brown had been squeezed out of the tournament.
Katie King Crowley joined the Brown squad as a freshman the fall after the Bears' Beanpot run. She remembers the team's efforts to work their way back into the tournament, and like many on the team, was disappointed the program couldn't defend its title.
But nearly 20 years later, with Crowley gearing up for her sixth Beanpot as coach of Boston College, she recognizes that the Beanpot wouldn't be the storied event that it has become without any of the four Boston programs.
“It's kind of funny because we tried so hard to get back into the Beanpot,” said Crowley. “Now, that idea just seems so silly with all four teams being so good.”
With fans and programs alike celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Women's Beanpot this February, it's hard to recall an era where the Beanpot was ever more competitive. Over the last few years, all four programs have been consistently ranked among the top-10 programs in the country. The speed and skill necessary to compete at the college level continues to fuel the excitement surrounding women's hockey, and with all four programs eyeing national title runs every season, the first two Tuesdays of February have become all the more special.
It wasn't always this way, however. Much like the Men's Beanpot, there have been long stretches in the Women's Beanpot that have been dominated by two programs. Northeastern and Harvard have combined for 28 of 34 Beanpot titles, and were frequent championship foes in years where BC struggled as a varsity program and BU competed as a club team.
But the current parity among teams is unlike any era in Beanpot history, and the four coaches who guide their teams into the tournament every year know how important these two games at the start of February are.
It's a chance to not only springboard a team to a potential NCAA tournament run, but it's a chance to win a championship in the middle of a season. The four coaches are aware that any team is capable of winning two games, especially with so much pride on the line.
No one knows this better than Harvard head coach Katey Stone. Long before becoming the all-time NCAA leader in wins as a head coach and garnering the title of head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, Stone was the first-year coach of a Crimson team that was struggling to find its identity. After excelling in the late-1980s under Stone's predecessor, John Dooley, the Crimson had struggled to just a 51-53-6 record in the five years prior to Stone's arrival in the fall of 1994.
Stone and the Crimson entered the 17th Women's Beanpot with a mere 9-7-1 record, but knocked off first-round opponent Boston College, 3-2, before upending defending Beanpot champion Northeastern by the same score.
“It was the highlight amid a somewhat average season,” said Stone. “Looking back, we might have won 12 games, but we were able to win the Beanpot, which meant a huge deal to our program at that stage.”
Stone noted the elation of her players and the emotion that came with clinching a Beanpot title amidst a turbulent season. In a way, it's a look that Boston University coach Brian Durocher knows all too well.
Durocher has been at the helm for the Terriers since they became a varsity program to start the 2005-2006 season. BU hasn't won a Women's Beanpot since 1981, only the third year of the event, but even with three Beanpot championship appearances in the last six tournaments, there's a moment from Durocher's first season that he holds dear.
It was the opening round game against Harvard in 2006, and since it was the year of the Olympic games in Torino, the powerhouse Crimson were without the talents of Julie Chu and Sarah Vaillancourt, two of their best offensive players.
“I consider it one of the two or three most memorable things for me,” said Durocher. “We got into overtime against [the Crimson] at their rink. I'll never forget the look in the kids' eyes. We were an infantile program, just getting rolling, and we had a chance to steal one when the shots on goal were something like 40-15.”
Harvard netted the game-winner less than a minute into overtime, but the Terriers have built off that momentum in recent years, earning their first NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2011, and bringing the competitive nature of the Beanpot to new heights.
And as all four programs continue to grow, the product on the ice has never been better. Fans over the past three-plus decades have bared witness to some of the world's best hockey players, and that's a trend that will continue through this year's Beanpot, and likely for Beanpots to come.
Since women's hockey was introduced at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, upwards of 20 former Beanpot participants have fought for gold on the national rosters of the United States, Canada, and Switzerland. They range from Harvard greats Jennifer Botterill (Canada) and Julie Chu (United States) to recent graduates, such as Northeastern goaltender
Florence Schelling (Switzerland), Boston College forward Kelli Stack (United States), and Boston University defenseman Catherine Ward (Canada).
And as in years past, this year's Beanpot includes members of Under-21 national teams and World Junior Championship squads. Fans will also get to watch Boston University forward Marie-Philip Poulin, a member of Canada's gold medal team at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
“That just goes to show you the level of hockey in Boston,” said Northeastern head coach
Dave Flint, who also served as an assistant coach on the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. “All the teams have current or potential future Olympians. That's what makes the [Beanpot] games exciting.”
While it's easy to reminisce on the last 35 years, all four coaches are excited about the growth of the Beanpot over the last three and a half decades, and what the Beanpot could be in another five, 10, or even 35 years. The game of hockey – and especially women's hockey – continues to grow at a feverish pace, and with the tournament having never been more exciting, the popularity of the Women's Beanpot has nowhere to go but up.
“We're hoping more and more people come and watch because you get to see these special players,” said Durocher. “The thing about the Beanpot is it gets talked about year round. It gets bragged about at the beach or during football season, and come spring, people are still chirping with their friends or teammates that went to one of the schools that didn't win it. It carries on as a year-long thing in people's minds. You can have a great run in the conference championships or in the NCAA tournament, and people still want to know how you did in the Beanpot. It has it's own legs and excitement.
“I hope that people realize how great a sport women's hockey is, and that the Beanpot is right in their backyard; that fans can come catch some of the best women's hockey players in the world, and catch some great hockey, too.”
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