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Sports
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Week of 13 February 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 20 |
Sports
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Overtime goal makes tournament history BU wins fourth straight Beanpot Trophyby Brian Fitzgerald What does a college freshman from the Boston area say after scoring the overtime goal that won the 1998 Beanpot Tournament? "It's just a great feeling -- the best feeling I've ever had in my life," declared Nick Gillis (MET'01) in the raucous Terrier locker room after BU defeated Harvard, 2-1, in sudden-death overtime on February 9. Of course, there are six seniors on this team who have done it all, winning four Beanpots and a national title in 1995. They will tell you that nothing compares to skating around the Providence Civic Center ice with the NCAA championship plaque. Senior Tom Noble (COM'98) did it as a freshman goaltender after holding Maine to just two goals. But the seniors also know that all important tournament play begins with the Beanpot, which gives them a taste of the playoff-style intensity they need in postseason games. "I'm a senior, so I've been through this before," says Noble, explaining how he held his composure during one of the most dramatic Beanpot finals in recent memory. "You've got to concentrate as much as you can and hope that everyone else on the team isn't jumpy -- and they weren't." Noble's four appearances in the Beanpot have resulted in four victories and the 1996 Eberly Trophy, which is given to the tournament's best goaltender. Including all regular-season winter tournaments, Beanpots, and postseason Hockey East and NCAA competition, Noble has compiled a 14-2 record. Noble, a native of Hanover, Mass., and Gillis, from Winthrop, Mass., both having attended Beanpot games as children, know the value of winning Boston's most important college sports tournament. The games don't count in the standings, but Beanpot bragging rights are not to be taken lightly. "We own the Beanpot!" chanted the Terrier fans after Gillis tipped the puck past Harvard's J. R. Prestifilippo at 5:51 of overtime, avenging Crimson freshman Harry Schwefel's tying goal with 6:47 left in regulation. Worcester native Tom Poti (CAS'00), the tournament's Most Valuable Player, assisted on both Boston University goals -- the latter scored on a BU power play. "The Harvard defenseman couldn't get it out [of the zone]," recalls Gillis of his overtime heroics. "When they couldn't clear, it went out to Poti. Poti kept it in. I saw him walk in the middle and I just wanted to get in front of the net for a screen or a tip, and I just tipped it in there." However, the puck didn't just pop into the net. Prestifilippo got a piece of it, but momentum carried the puck into the goal. A similar loose-puck drama had occurred behind the Harvard goaltender during the second period, but it stopped just short of the line. But Gillis was not to be denied. "The puck got caught in his pads and I was just watching it," he says. "I was hoping it would go in." The moment lasted a millisecond, but to Gillis it seemed like an eternity. When the puck dribbled across the line, the FleetCenter erupted. Gillis has plenty of praise for Poti, his teammate at Cushing Academy. "I've been playing with Poti for years and he surprises me more and more," he says. "He's just a great player." He also gives Harvard the credit it deserves. After all, the Crimson almost won the Beanpot with two come-from-behind overtime victories -- the first against Boston College in the tournament's opening round. "We knew that it would be a tight checking game and I'm sure they wanted to try and slow us down a little bit," says Gillis. "We just wanted to do our best. [Harvard's players] have been playing well recently. They had a loss against RPI, but they played great against BC." In the overtime session, Harvard put a scare into BU with a couple of promising rushes. The Crimson certainly didn't look like a team that has a losing record. "Our boys went toe to toe with them," says Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni, who was inconsolable after his team's epic battle with the number three team in the nation. Harvard's never-say-die attitude didn't surprise Gillis. "This is the Beanpot," he explains, "so everybody gets pumped up." |
Tom Poti, Billy Beal, and Walter Brown
Hockey Terrier Tom Poti (CAS'00) didn't score a goal in Boston University's 2-1 Beanpot Championship victory over Harvard University February 9, but he was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player because of his defensive effort, along with a crucial assist in the second period that enabled Chris Drury (CAS'98) to score his 102nd career goal and give BU a 1-0 lead. Poti, from Worcester, Mass., also picked up an assist in BU's 7-3 victory over UMass-Lowell on February 6.
Basketball guard Billy Beal (CAS'99), from Alexandria, Va., scored 26 points in BU's 78-67 victory over the University of Vermont on February 8 -- a win that ended BU's four-game losing streak. Teammate Walter Brown (CAS'99), a forward, scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in BU's 84-72 victory over the University of Hartford on February 5. Brown, a Dorchester native, also scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds in the Vermont game.
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