Last Night’s News 📰
ONE STEP CLOSER: Golden Knights’ head coach Pete DeBoer spoke with the media on Friday, saying Jack Eichel could be cleared for contact in practice after the break. Recovering from his surgery on Nov. 12, Eichel has been practicing with his new team since Jan. 11 in a non-contact jersey.
TALKIN’ 2023: The NHL used the All-Star Weekend to offer a sneak peek and announce some marquee events for next year’s league calendar: Fenway Park will host the 2023 Winter Classic, the Florida Panthers will get the All-Star Weekend following the 2021 cancellation, and the 2023 Stadium Series at North Carolina State University’s Carter-Finley Stadium after another rescheduled event.
VOICES FROM VEGAS: Relive the sights and sounds from All-Star weekend as NHL.com staff members reported from the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition. Jordan Kyrou, Victor Hedman, Joe Pavelski, Sebastian Aho, Alex Pietrangelo*, Zach Werenski, Jack Campbell, and Andrei Vasilevskiy were all winners in their respective events. Claude Giroux won All-Star Game MVP honors by leading the Metropolitan Division to victory.
GLOBAL SERIES RETURNS: During All-Star weekend, the league announced the return of the NHL Global Series for the 2022-23 season. Preseason games will be played in Switzerland and Germany, while regular-season games will take place in Finland and the Czech Republic in pursuit of growing the game internationally.
Beanpot Tournament – By the Numbers
Today brings the beginning of the 2022 Beanpot, an annual Boston-area college hockey tournament. The four participants in the event are Boston Unversity, Boston College, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. The two-round tournament, which began in Dec. 1952, is held every year on the first two Mondays of February at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins’ home arena.
After a hiatus last year due to COVID-19, Boston’s bitter battle for bragging rights is back. Here are some numbers to get you ready for one of the nation’s most popular college hockey competitions.
68 – Years the Beanpot has taken place. After the first one in Dec. 1952, the tournament didn’t happen in 1953. It was moved to January in 1954 and 1955 before switching to its current weekend in Feb. 1956.
30 – Times Boston University has won the tournament, the most of the four teams. Boston College has won it 20 times, Harvard has won it 11 times, and Northeastern has won it seven times.
10 – NCAA titles the four teams have combined to win since the tournament started. Boston University has won five (1971, 1972, 1978, 1995, and 2009), Boston College has won four (2001, 2008, 2010, and 2012), and Harvard has won one (1989). Every team that won the national championship also won the Beanpot that same season.
6 – Longest streak of consecutive Beanpot titles by one team. Boston University won the tournament every year from 1995 to 2000. Boston College holds the second-longest stretch, winning five straight Beanpots from 2010 to 2014.
3 – Years in a row that Northeastern has won the Beanpot. Despite being the only team of the four not to have a national title and having the worst success historically, the Huskies are the three-time defending champs, having won the tournament in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
234 – NHL players these four teams have combined to produce (according to College Hockey News). Boston University has turned out 89, Boston College has put forth 84, Harvard has graduated 36, and Northeastern has yielded 25 players at hockey’s highest level.
2 – Hockey Hall-of-Famers who attended one of these four schools. Brian Leetch and Joe Mullen both played for Boston College.
NHL-Olympic Roster Doppelgängers, Part 2
On Friday, we broke down the Canadian, American, and Russian Olympic rosters based on their NHL doppelgängers. To offer a broader sense of the 2022 Beijing men’s tournament before it kicks off on Wednesday, let’s tackle a few more nations in medal contention:
Team Sweden = Carolina Hurricanes
Without a doubt, the Swedes will gladly accept a comparison to a red-hot Carolina Hurricanes team with a Metropolitan Division-leading 64 points in just 42 games. The comparison here is multi-faceted. For one, there is a stylistic parallel, with both squads boasting exceptional two-way play. There’s also the fact that both rosters overwhelmingly feature players in their prime years (Sweden has 19 players between 24 and 30, while Carolina has 12 such players).
Team Finland = Pittsburgh Penguins
For all of the changes undergone in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ front office over the past year, a constant remains in the on-ice presence of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, a trio that is in their 16th season as teammates. That familiarity extends to the Finnish Olympic team, which features 22 players who have shared the ice at the World Championships and seven who represented Finland at the 2018 Olympics.
Team Czech Republic = Chicago Blackhawks
A cursory scan of Olympic rosters will return unknown names, a handful of “oh, I remember him,” and the occasional standout. The Czechs might boast the most established name in the tournament, as former Boston Bruins veteran David Krejčí headlines a largely unknown (to North American fans, anyway) group. A household name (or names) distracting from a roster filled with holes sounds like the Chicago Blackhawks, armed with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marc-André Fleury, and an underwhelming 16-23-7 record.
Player Spotlight – Jonathan Huberdeau
As teams approach the midway point of the season, it’s fun for fans to look at players who are front-runners for NHL awards. This season, there are a couple of dark horses in the mix, and one of them is Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers. He leads his team with 64 points, which is currently more than Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Fans know plenty about what the 28-year-old brings to the ice, but what about life outside of hockey? Let’s check in.
Go-To Karaoke Song?:
I Want It That Way – The Backstreet Boys
Can you sail?:
First CD?:
Last Movie to Make You Cry?:
Biggest Pet Peeve in Hockey?:
When the goalie doesn’t work hard at practice
Show You Have Binge-Watched?:
Favorite Candy?:
NHL Standings
NHL’s Leading Scorers
Today’s NHL Schedule
- Today’s newsletter was edited by Kyle Knopp, with contributions by Ben Fisher, Kristy Flannery, and Brooke LoFurno.
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