26 December

1952: In front of 5,105 fans Boston University defeated Northeastern, 4-1, in the first game ever played in the New England Invitational Hockey Tournament, soon to be known as the Beanpot, at the Boston Arena.

Northeastern came into the game with a 5-1-1 record and was backboned by goalie Ray Picard and defensemen Len McNamara and Buddy Purcell. However, they lacked depth and speed and were further weakened as several players had the flu. Picard kept the Huskies in the game in the first, making 18 saves, but the Terriers finally broke through when Dick Rodenhiser scored at 16:33 of the period on Dick Lee’s rebound during a 4-on-4. In the second BU increased the lead as Paul Whalen took a pass from Lee and skated in alone (and obviously offsides according to reports) on Picard, beating him to the left side at 14:25 of the period. John Burns made it 3-0 just over two minutes later. In the third period Rodenhiser passed the puck out from behind the net to Jerry Denning who put it in the net to make it 4-0. The Huskies’ John Campion fed the puck to Dick Smith all alone in the Terrier zone to close out the scoring with 58 seconds left in the game. Picard ended the game with 31 saves, while BU’s Paul Kelley had 17 saves.

1955: Boston University routed Providence, 14-3, in the opening game of the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament. The game was marred by an eight-minute fight, termed the worst in the history of the Arena, which took three policemen and both coaches to break up. The melee started with 2 minutes remaining in the second period when the Terriers’ Jack Murphy and the Friars’ Rod Gorman tangled after Murphy’s stick caught Gorman in the seat of his pants following a faceoff. Both teams joined in and when it was all over six players were ejected; both starting goalies, PC’s Ed Hornstein and BU’s Ralph Vito, along with Friars Gorman and Ray Blanchette and Terriers Murphy and Tony Cicoria. BU led 7-3 at the end of the second period and the loss of Hornstein was a fatal blow to the Friars. Without him in goal the Terriers made the game even more one-sided, as they scored seven more times in the third.