Over the years, Boston College has had its fair share of great hockey teams, yet back-to-back Beanpot Championships is an accomplishment that has eluded the Eagles. It's somewhat remarkable for a program that has had as much national success as BC has had over the years, that something as simple as back-to-back Beanpot titles is a feat that hasn't been accomplished since the mid-1960s.
It's a testament to the Beanpot strangehold that Boston University has had on the tournament since Jerry York laced them up for the Eagles in the early 1960s.
There was the 1978 team that fell to BU 12-5 in the Semifinal round, only to make it all the way to the National Championship Game, eventually falling to the very same Terriers team in the final down in Providence, 5-3.
There was the senior class of 2001 -- guys like Brian Gionta, Rob Scuderi, Bobby Allen, Mike Lephart and Scott Clemmensen -- who made it four for four in Frozen Four appearances and finally broke through in their senior season, ending a National title drought that lasted for more than 50 years. Despite all of BC's postseason success over those four years, the Eagles came away with just one Beanpot title (2001).
Just a few years ago, the 2006 and 2007 Eagles, led by Chris Collins, Stephen Gionta, Brian Boyle, and backstopped by Cory Schneider, made it to back-to-back National title games only to come up a bit short in title losses to Wisconsin and Michigan State. That 2007 senior class came away with just one Beanpot title, in 2004, with BU winning both tournament titles in 2006 and 2007.
So for BC's tiny senior class of Brian Gibbons, Joe Whitney and John Muse, capturing three Beanpot titles in four years is quite the accomplishment, considering it hadn't been done on the Heights since 1965.
"You can't ask for much more than that," Gibbons said. "I'm speechless, really. I've been coming to Beanpots since I was a little guy so the Beanpot is special. To be able to share three of them with Joey and John is really special."
Hopefully, BC's recent Beanpot success will spill over onto the new few seasons in much the same way BU has dominated the Beanpot during the tournament's first 50+ years. We could be witnessing a changing of the guard, so to speak, for the "BU Invitational," or the last four years could be just an anomaly for a tournament owned by the Terriers.
Either way, back-to-back Beanpot titles and three of four is certainly nothing to take for granted, especially given the great Eagles hockey teams of the past 20-30 years that failed to bring home city-wide college hockey bragging rights in back-to-back seasons.