For Mike Sullivan, the men’s Beanpot is about more than just personal memories of past glory.
Not that he doesn’t have plenty of them. The former Boston University forward played in the annual tournament four times, reaching the championship round each time and winning it twice between 1987-90. Before that, the Marshfield, Mass., native made numerous trips to the old Boston Garden with his father and brothers to watch BU, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard battle it out on the first and second Mondays in February.
Sullivan, who went on to an 11-year career at the top level of pro hockey and is now in his ninth season as head coach of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, said he hopes the Beanpot will serve as a source of inspiration to the younger generation of players, just like it did for him growing up in the 1970s and 80s.
“I think, maybe, the biggest significance is how inspirational it is to the hockey community,” Sullivan said. “And to the young players who are going to watch growing up in this area. And I was one of them.”
Sullivan spoke with USCHO.com on Monday at the Beanpot’s annual press event, where it was announced he will be this year’s inductee into the Beanpot Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place on Feb. 12 before the championship game.
A veteran of four teams during his NHL career, including one season (1997-98) with his hometown Bruins, Sullivan made the jump from college hockey to the NHL when such a move was more rare than it is today. Sullivan said college hockey has taken “giant steps” from that standpoint since his playing days.
“Hockey East, in particular, has been one of the better leagues in college hockey,” he said. “There have been a lot of players who have come through Hockey East that have obviously gone on to have a ton of success at the NHL level. So as a proud alum of Hockey East, that’s certainly something we take pride in.”
In all, 74 former Hockey East players adorned NHL rosters at the start of the season. Currently, forward Matt Nieto is the only BU alumnus on the Penguins’ roster, but he’s one of five former Hockey East players — forwards Ryan Shea of Northeastern, Bryan Rust of Notre Dame (part of Hockey East when Rust played, now B1G) and Noel Acciari of Providence and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel of UMass-Lowell are the others — who started the season on Pittsburgh’s roster.
With a shorter season and mid-season tournaments such as the Beanpot, Sullivan, who had 61 goals and 77 assists in four years with the Terriers, said college hockey brings a certain emotional intensity that’s hard to duplicate at the NHL level.
“By nature of that, the games take on more significance in the standings and otherwise” in college hockey, Sullivan said. “Guys are excited to play. I do think there’s a certain intensity that college players are able to sustain throughout the course of their season because they have the ability to recover. At the NHL level, you’re playing three nights a week, sometimes four nights a week.”
With his alma mater smarting after three straight losses (a sweep at the hands of archrival BC and an overtime loss at Northeastern on Tuesday), Sullivan said the best advice he would give to the Terriers on the precipice of the 71st Beanpot would be to stay focused on the moment at hand.
“They went through a tough experience, BU did, when they got swept by BC,” said Sullivan, who has twice won the Stanley Cup as the Penguins coach. “They have to figure out what they can take from that. How do they get better? How does that experience make them a wiser version of themselves? And then they have to be prepared to move by it and get ready for the one in front of them.”
Defending champ Northeastern will face Harvard (ECAC Hockey) in the Beanpot opener on Monday at TD Garden, followed by BC vs. BU. The consolation game and championship will be the following Monday. All games will air on NESN and ESPN+.
