Boston Arena Christmas Tournament


The Boston Arena Christmas Tournament was a mid-season college ice hockey tournament with the first iteration played in late December 1953. It was held 17 times over an 18-year span and was discontinued after the 1970 edition.

History

The Boston Arena, which had served as a home for several college ice hockey programs, began hosting a tournament held between Christmas and New Year's starting in 1953. Boston University, which then played its home games at the Arena, served as the host for the tournament. After a few years, Northeastern, who also played its home games at the Boston Arena, joined in on the tournament and served as co-host for the remainder of its existence.
During the first few years, the tournament format and even the number of teams changed annually. The first iteration was a simple, 4-team, single-elimination tournament. The following year, seven team participated but did not play an equal number of games. Two more teams were added for the third event, while the fourth edition reverted to a more common 8-team tournament format. In years five and six, 6 teams were invited, however, the fifth version had all participants playing three games while the following year each team played two games with a tie-breaker being held between the two top teams on the final day. After 1960, the tournament settled down and became a more common 4-team tournament. After one year with a single-elimination format, it converted into a round-robin series and remained that way for several years. The tournament was last held in December 1970, after which, Boston University moved into the Walter Brown Arena.
Perhaps the most memorable game in the history of the tournament came in 1966 when Boston University met Cornell. Both teams were undefeated at the time and were widely regarded as the top two squads in the nation. The two played to a 3–3 tie after regulation and then went scoreless for 40 minutes of overtime. After the second extra period the head coaches for both teams met and agreed to call the game a draw as their respective teams were worn out and both had already proven to be the equal of the other. The two were named co-champions of the tournament.

Results

Note: The tournament was not held in 1963.

Game results

1954

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 27McGill6Boston College3
December 27Brown3Boston University0
December 27Harvard3St. Lawrence2
December 28Tufts10Boston University5
December 28St. Lawrence6Brown3
December 28McGill2Harvard1
December 29Harvard8Boston College2
December 29McGill5Brown3

1955

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 26Boston College5Brown3
December 26Boston University14Providence3
December 27St. Lawrence6Boston University0
December 27Brown10Tufts2
December 27Dalhousie6Providence5
December 28St. Lawrence6Boston College2
December 28Clarkson11Harvard5
December 28Providence10Tufts7
December 29Dalhousie7Brown2
December 30St. Lawrence3Harvard1
December 30Clarkson7Boston College6
December 31Clarkson10Boston University5
December 31Dalhousie6Harvard5

1957

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 26Brown6Northeastern4
December 26Boston College4Dartmouth2
December 26Boston University7Providence3
December 27Boston College4Brown3
December 27Boston University5Dartmouth2
December 27Providence10Northeastern2
December 28Boston University10Brown3
December 28Boston College5Providence2
December 28Dartmouth2Northeastern1

1958

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 26Boston University8Brown3
December 26Michigan State7Northeastern1
December 27Boston University6Providence4
December 28Michigan State6Boston College0
December 29Boston College7Providence2
December 29Brown5Northeastern3
December 30Michigan State3Boston University2

1959

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 28Brown3Boston University2
December 28Toronto4Colby2
December 28Harvard8Northeastern2
December 29Boston University5Colby1
December 29Toronto3Brown2
December 29Harvard5Providence4
December 30Boston University9Northeastern4
December 30Providence2Brown1
December 30Toronto7Harvard2

1960

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 27Providence3Army2
December 27Boston University10Brown0
December 27Dalhousie10Northeastern2
December 28Boston University4Army3
December 28Northeastern6Brown0
December 28Providence5Dalhousie4
December 29Dalhousie6Boston University5
December 29Army5Brown2
December 29Providence10Northeastern3

1962

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 26Colorado College5Boston University4
December 26Harvard11Northeastern6
December 27Harvard10Boston University3
December 27Colorado College5Northeastern3
December 28Boston University7Northeastern5
December 28Harvard3Colorado College2

1964

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 28Northeastern4Boston University3
December 28Michigan4Harvard2
December 29Boston University8Harvard0
December 29Michigan7Northeastern2
December 30Michigan4Boston University3
December 30Harvard5Northeastern1

1965

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 27Boston University7Michigan2
December 27Michigan Tech8Northeastern5
December 28Boston University4Northeastern1
December 28Michigan Tech7Michigan6
December 29Michigan Tech5Boston University2
December 29Michigan6Northeastern2

1966

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 28Boston University7Harvard5
December 28Cornell4Northeastern2
December 29Boston University6Northeastern1
December 29Cornell4Harvard1
December 30Boston University3Cornell3
December 30Harvard5Northeastern4

1967

Round Robin
DateWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore
December 28Boston University8Merrimack1
December 28St. Francis Xavier5Northeastern2
December 29Boston University8Northeastern4
December 29St. Francis Xavier5Merrimack4
December 30Boston University7St. Francis Xavier2
December 30Northeastern6Merrimack5