Stirring up the pot
Published on February 5th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Area college hockey fans are aware that the first two Monday’s in February are a special time of the year. That’s even more true this year for Stoneham native Bernie Corbett, whose new book “The Beanpot: Fifty Years Of Thrills, Spills and Chills” is garnering rave reviews.
The 1978 Stoneham High graduate has been making the rounds for various book signings, and last Wednesday got an assist from legendary B.U. Coach Jack Parker at the B.U. bookstore.
Corbett, now in his 18th year as a radio broadcaster for Terrier hockey, has B.U. blood, his parents and his grandfather all having attended B.U.
The project was initially envisioned as a fortieth anniversary retrospective, but that didn’t work out.
“The timing didn’t seem quite right to get a publisher. I talked to Steve Nazro (tournament director of the Beanpot) )and he thought it was a great idea, but we just couldn’t quite pull it together.”
The research that Corbett did at the Boston Public Library for the intended book was not for naught, as Nazro, the Vice-President, and Director of events at the Fleet Center, was able to use Corbett’s research for various projects.
“When it got close to the fiftieth I said ‘What about reviving the idea of a book?’ and he said ‘We’d be very interested in that.’”
Corbett, who got an assist from another Stoneham native, Paul Simpson, in putting the book together, then approached Northeastern University Press, who snapped up the book idea. Rather than have it for last year’s fiftieth game, Corbett decided wait a year to include a full fifty years.
“I figured ‘Let’s see what happens for the fiftieth and write the final chapter.’”
Corbett also was the radio play-by-play man for B.U. football until the school dropped the program and now calls the football games for Harvard University, as well as broadcasting NCAA tournament baseball games.
He is a lifelong B.U. hockey junkie who as a child attended games regularly with his parents. Then in 1971, at the age of seven, he got to go to his first Beanpot.
“It was a big deal” recalls Corbett.
“I’d gone to Friday and Saturday night games, but this was on a school night. I got to hang with the grown ups.”
After graduating from Stoneham High he made his way to Comm. Ave where became the hockey team’s student manager.
Corbett and Parker joke freely about the team’s lack of Beanpot success during Corbett’s term as student manager.
“I certainly owe a lot to Coach Parker for allowing me to stay around, because when I became the varsity manager in 1980 we didn’t go the finals for two years. Then we won the Beanpot in 1982 but then missed the final again in my last year in 1983. The last words out of Coach Parker’s mouth should’ve been ‘Turn in your play book, see you later’” Corbett says with a laugh.
For his part, Parker played along.
“We’ve been in the Beanpot final 34 out of the last 38 years, and only won one year when Bernie was our manager, so Bernie really was an albatross around our necks” the coach replied with a wry grin.
With such a dominant B.U. background, Corbett took care not to make the book an all-Terrier tome.
“Oh yeah, I was absolutely concerned the accusations that would come up, whether real or imagined, but Paul Simpson, my alter ego, kept an eye on the pages to make sure about objectivity.”
Though B.U. has dominated the tournament for the better part of the last thirty plus years, Boston College and Harvard were the dominant powers early on, and Northeastern won it four times in the eighties. This gave Corbett some non-B.U. material to write about and thus provided him with enough cover to avoid charges of favoritism.
Corbett acknowledges the delicate balancing act he had to undertake to keep all sides happy.
“It really keeps you on your toes” he says, adding “It’s like tap dancing.”
As for the Beanpot, Corbett describes the lure for hockey fans.
“It’s so distinctly unique with the situation we have in this city. You’ve got four schools within a mile and a trolley ride of each other, and all play Division I hockey. Also, the four teams can trace their roots back to the Boston Arena where they shared the ice at one time, and where the first Beanpot was played in 1952” notes Corbett.
For Parker, the school’s Beanpot dominance is an important recruiting tool.
“It’s big help in recruiting. I always tell a recruit ‘If you want to play in the Beanpot, you’ve got to go to one of four schools” before dryly adding “of course if you want to win a Beanpot...”
Besides containing a narrative history of the Beanpot, the book, which Corbett dedicated to his late father, Mitch, also contains personal recollections as well as a thorough compilation of game summaries and participant lists.
With B.U. and arch rival B.C. winning the first round and set to face each other Monday night, Corbett is eagerly anticipating the match-up.
“They’re a terrific team. They’re loaded for bear.”
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!