Harvard Should Quit the Beanpot

The Beanpot is the annual tournament between the four major Boston-area collegiate hockey teams: BU, BC, Northeastern, and Harvard.

Every year, Harvard's desire to play in the tournament forces the ECAC to make schedule adjustments so Harvard can play more conference games earlier.

And nearly every year, the Crimson's pathetic performance in the Beanpot thoroughly embarrasses the ECAC and hurts decent ECAC teams in the Pairwise Rankings by providing two opportunities for Hockey East teams to beat up on an ECAC squad.

Last night, in the semifinal, Harvard lost 6-0 to Boston College. Six. Nothing.

Harvard hasn't won the Beanpot since 1993. This is a feat which requires winning two hockey games, and Harvard hasn't been able to do that for 17 years.

In fact, Harvard has only made it to the championship game three times since that 1993 tournament. Three first-round wins in 17 years.

On the ECAC side of things, Harvard has actually been somewhat helpful to Cornell this season. The Crimson beat Quinnipiac, Yale, and Union in the last month; at various times this season those three teams have been battling Cornell for first place.

But, man, does Harvard suck in the Beanpot. (Actually, in all non-conference games. They don't have an out-of-conference win in two years.) Why don't they quit and let Bentley or UMass-Lowell play instead?

Update: Thanks to the Beanpot, Cornell moved from #10 to #13 in the Pairwise. BU, Michigan State, and Colorado College all moved ahead of the Big Red. Thanks, Harvard!