Steve Nazro hopped in his Volkswagen Beetle and started the trek to Boston.
Nazro, who was a senior at Dartmouth College at the time, and his school friend decided to catch the 1963 Beanpot Championship between Boston College and Harvard University.
“We drove from Hanover – with no tickets – and those days it was all backroads. There was no Route 89, so it took us four hours to drive down,” Nazro said.
It was the Arlington, Mass. native’s first time attending the Beanpot, ultimately foreshadowing an illustrious career as TD Garden’s vice president of events and tournament director.
Nazro joined the then Boston Garden team in 1966 selling tickets as the marketing director. When former president and general manager Edward Powers died in 1973, Nazro took on the “grunt work” for the Beanpot.
“It was a big deal for me because I was so young, and it was a chance to do a special job. Even back then, the tournament was a very, very big deal,” Nazro said.
Nazro went on to have a 50-year career at TD Garden (1967-2017) in which he oversaw entertainment greats – the Beatles, Rolling Stones – grace the Boston stage. Heck, he hoisted the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011.
However, the Beanpot maintains a unique spot in the highlights of Nazro’s resume.
As the tournament director, Nazro watched the Beanpot grow into a pride war between four of the top college hockey teams in New England: Boston University, Northeastern University, Boston College and Harvard University.
“The reason the Beanpot is successful is because of the quality and consistency of good play,” Nazro said. “It’s in the middle of the season, so you have a championship in the middle of the season. That’s important – that’s an important part of why it got to be good, why it got to be so popular.”
Nazro had the honor of handing out the Beanpot MVP award at the end of each championship game. Former Terrier Matt Grzelcyk’s overtime, game-winning goal against Northeastern in 2015 still sticks out to Nazro.
“A long time ago I made a list of my 10 most favorite moments from the Beanpot. I changed the list after 2015,” Nazro said.
Grzelcyk – the BU captain at the time – won the MVP award, and for Nazro, it felt like a family affair. John Grzelcyk, Matt’s father, is a long-time TD Garden bullgang member and part of the company’s DNA.
“The whole thing was so fabulous. He wasn’t a big scorer, and he got the goal,” Nazro said. “He used to come to the Garden and watch – walk over the bridge from Charlestown. And of course his father was close to 50 years [on the job] at that point.”
Eight years later, both Matt and John were inducted into the 2023 Beanpot Hall of Fame. John’s nomination was a surprise to him but an obvious choice to everyone else.
“It gave me a tremendous thrill because it said so much about the Beanpot and about the Grzelcyk family, the BU connection – which has always been the strongest of the four schools,” Nazro said.
As the 71st men’s Beanpot rolls around on Monday, Nazro noted how the tournament has not only grown to be embraced by members of the four participating schools, but by Boston as a whole.
In the 1960s, the Beanpot provided the opportunity to see the top American-born hockey players on a big stage since the NHL was majorly composed of Canadian and European athletes.
“The best American players played in college, and a lot of those best players played for the four schools that were in the Beanpot,” Nazro said.
Now, rooted in history and layered rivalries, the Beanpot showcases the next pro stars, hometown heroes and some of the best competition college hockey has to offer.
“When they step on the ice, I really think there’s a jolt that comes to the players, and they give their best,” Nazro said.
Nazro has held witness to the top-ranked team landing in fourth place, one-goal title games and unexpected players rising to the moment. It speaks to, perhaps, the best thing about the Beanpot: it’s anyone’s trophy to win.
“A team that is having a bad year could suddenly turn it around by winning the Beanpot. That’s a big deal,” Nazro said. “When the Beanpot comes around, that’s the start of the championship season.”
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