On paper, it was the perfect time for the Harvard Men’s hockey team heading into February 6th. Ranked #2 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and #10 in the country, Harvard was playing in the 70th anniversary of the Beanpot tournament against an absolutely beatable BC team sinking below .500. The match was even technically a “home” game in terms of Harvard’s introduction order.
But judging from the student crowds at TD Garden, the game might as well have taken place at BC’s Conte Forum. BC students had filled nearly six rows and the hallways a few minutes before the game even started. Harvard students, excluding the band, didn’t even fill up half of one. They scattered in small groups among a sea of empty seats. Only two rows to the left of the band were more BC fans and even a few early Northeastern ones. Harvard had its fans in the lower rows with general ticket buyers and alums, but their student section was a ghost town for the majority of the game.
The Beanpot is one of the biggest events for the Men’s Hockey Team each year, a local tournament with three other Boston area schools. As Harvard’s ice hockey program consistently entered the upper levels of the national rankings and the NCAA tournament for many recent years, the Beanpot continues to bring a local tradition to a national scene. Yet despite the stakes and momentum for the team, and despite Harvard being fewer T stops from TD Garden than BC, its student supporters were dwarfed by fans of BC—a team that had tormented Harvard’s hockey team in the tournament for so many years but was now skidding down the standings.
The disparity played out as soon as the player introductions, as BC’s boos instantly drowned out all of the Harvard players. It looked like things might kick off when Harvard scored a goal in the first minute and prompted some cheers, but this was quickly nullified by a too many men penalty, punctuated by a “Land of Confusion” music cue. It was perhaps the one moment in the night where Harvard had too much support.
Compared to the free ticket drive and widespread announcements leading up to the Harvard-Yale football game, the Beanpot received an email blast on January 20th for students to purchase tickets for $17.50. In response to an inquiry, the ticket office claimed that “the entire allotment of student tickets sold-out in less than 48 hours” through the TD Garden Ticketmaster website, though the office declined to answer what the allotment was.
The Harvard students who were there had mostly gotten their tickets in advance in the hopes that the game would turn into a huge event. “It’s one of the few times we get to get really excited about Harvard sports and school pride,” said Jack Silvers ’25, who got his tickets a few weeks earlier when they were really cheap. “We’re getting blown out in turnout for sure. We need more Harvard students to be here, ‘cause BC is showing us up even though they’re losing on the scoreboard.”
The Harvard band did their best to make up for the difference with their songs against the BC crowd. Travis Tucker ’25, the conductor of the student band, said that compared to the band making up most of the Harvard student audience at the present game, “when we’re at home and in Bright-Landry, it’s always bumpin’, it’s pretty crowded,’ lots of people in there. We’re just happy to be here and bring the energy to the Crimson tonight.” However, BC students had grown numerous enough to start filling the seats on both sides of them as the game went on. At one point, a drunk cohort of BC students tried to sit among the strands of Harvard students, with one loudly yelling “We’re wide open!” in honest shock more than anything else.
Despite the drowning chants of Eagles fans, the Crimson started out dominating the first period, scoring a goal 11 minutes in and beating the Eagles on shots, faceoffs, attacks, and defense. By the end, enough Harvard students had arrived into the stands to nearly fill one entire row, though they were still spread out and mixed in with a few adults and other students. Meanwhile, BC had grown to nearly eight.
The normal churn of school was cited as a potential factor in the low attendance. “It’s pretty embarrassing,” said Elijah Shell ’23. “[The BC fans] definitely seem to care about showing up to events more, but I understand it’s a Monday night. I understand people have work to do and stuff.” Others were a touch more optimistic. Sterling Hoyte ’26 said that “it’s terrifying frankly, the lack of school spirit, but I feel like if we make it to the finals, maybe attendance will boost a little bit. I dunno, I feel like they have stronger numbers, but we have more heart.”
Harvard made an even stronger showing in the second period, scoring on a power play and slowly igniting the Harvard students against an increasingly disappointed Eagles crowd. BC’s attack improved in the period and even scored a goal seven minutes in, but Harvard responded with another to end it 3-1.
By the third period, the Garden had begun filling with more BU and Northeastern fans early for the next game. Despite Harvard’s sections filling to about two rows by that point, there were still more BU and Northeastern fans each in attendance by comparison. They even led chants of “BC Sucks” and “Let’s Go Harvard” that managed to roar as loud as BC’s earlier chants. The period would soon turn scrappy and dramatic, as BC scored two goals in the last five minutes to send the game into overtime, with an almost deafening roar on the tie goal that continued into overtime.
However, after overtime continued with inconclusive back and forth attempts, BC’s team began stalling the puck in their own end to the point where the arena crowd and even their own fans began booing the players. A literal last second goal by Harvard’s Marek Hejduk ’26 won the game, and as a betrayed Eagles crowd dissolved out the exits, Harvard’s students finally ignited a loud cheer on their own.
After the win, player Matthew Coronato ’25 was unconcerned about the overwhelming dominance of opposing fans relative to Harvard’s. “I think that’s something we’re used to as a group. I think a lot of our games we kind of deal with that, but our group’s got a lot of resilience and a lot of confidence, so I think we kind of feed off it. It kinda feeds our energy in our games. I think we did a good job starting off the right way tonight, and I don’t think it affects us negatively at all.”
With a finals appearance fast approaching, Harvard students have a chance to make a statement as much as the team itself. Otherwise, the team may end up playing its sixth appearance and potential third win in thirty years to yet another crowd of phantom fans.
Ryan Golemme ’23 (ryangolemme@college.harvard.edu), who rooted for BC in the Beanpot as a kid because he thought the Eagle looked cool, writes for the Independent.