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 a 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 wore out and both had already proven to be the equal of the other. The two were named co-champions of the tournament.
==Results==
Year	Champion 	Runner-up 	Third place	Fourth place	Fifth place	Sixth place	Seventh place	Eighth place	Ninth place
1953	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1954	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	- 	-
1955	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
1956	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	-
1957	 	 	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	-
1958	 	 	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	-
1959	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	- 	-
1960	 	 	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	-
1961	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1962	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1964	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1965	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1966	Boston University / Cornell	Boston University / Cornell	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1967	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1968	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1969	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
1970	 	 	 	 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-
Note: The tournament was not held in 1963.
==Game results==
===1953===
===1954===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 27	McGill 	6 	Boston College 	3
December 27	Brown 	3 	Boston University	0
December 27	Harvard 	3 	St. Lawrence 	2 (OT)
December 28	Tufts 	10 	Boston University	5
December 28	St. Lawrence	6 	Brown 	3
December 28	McGill 	2 	Harvard 	1
December 29	Harvard 	8 	Boston College 	2
December 29	McGill 	5 	Brown 	3
===1955===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 26	Boston College 	5 	Brown 	3
December 26	Boston University	14 	Providence 	3
December 27	St. Lawrence 	6 	Boston University	0
December 27	Brown 	10 	Tufts 	2
December 27	Dalhousie 	6 	Providence 	5 (OT)
December 28	St. Lawrence 	6 	Boston College 	2
December 28	Clarkson 	11 	Harvard 	5
December 28	Providence 	10 	Tufts 	7
December 29	Dalhousie 	7 	Brown 	2
December 30	St. Lawrence 	3 	Harvard 	1
December 30	Clarkson 	7 	Boston College 	6
December 31	Clarkson 	10 	Boston University	5
December 31	Dalhousie 	6 	Harvard 	5
===1956===
;Quarterfinals (12/27)
*Boston University - Dartmouth 6:2
*Harvard - Army 4:3
*Boston College - Providence 6:2
*Brown - Northeastern 6:4
;Semifinals
*12/28: Harvard - Boston University 5:2
*12/28: Boston College - Brown 6:2
;Final
*12/29: Harvard - Boston College 4:2
;3rd place
*12/29: Boston University - Brown 6:1
;5th-8th place
*12/28: Dartmouth - Army 6:2
*12/28: Providence - Northeastern 10:2
;5th place
*12/29: Providence - Dartmouth 8:2
;7th place
*12/29: Northeastern - Army 7:2
===1957===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 26	Brown 	6 	Northeastern	4
December 26	Boston College 	4 	Dartmouth 	2
December 26	Boston University	7 	Providence 	3
December 27	Boston College 	4 	Brown 	3
December 27	Boston University	5 	Dartmouth 	2
December 27	Providence 	10 	Northeastern	2
December 28	Boston University	10 	Brown 	3
December 28	Boston College 	5 	Providence 	2
December 28	Dartmouth 	2 	Northeastern	1
===1958===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 26	Boston University	8 	Brown 	3
December 26	Michigan State 	7 	Northeastern 	1
December 27	Boston University	6 	Providence 	4
December 28	Michigan State 	6 	Boston College 	0
December 29	Boston College 	7 	Providence 	2
December 29	Brown 	5 	Northeastern 	3
December 30	Michigan State 	3 	Boston University	2
===1959===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 28	Brown 	3 	Boston University	2
December 28	Toronto 	4 	Colby 	2
December 28	Harvard 	8 	Northeastern 	2
December 29	Boston University	5 	Colby 	1
December 29	Toronto 	3 	Brown 	2
December 29	Harvard 	5 	Providence 	4 (OT)
December 30	Boston University	9 	Northeastern 	4
December 30	Providence 	2 	Brown 	1
December 30	Toronto 	7 	Harvard 	2
===1960===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 27	Providence 	3 	Army 	2
December 27	Boston University	10 	Brown 	0
December 27	Dalhousie 	10 	Northeastern 	2
December 28	Boston University	4 	Army 	3
December 28	Northeastern 	6 	Brown 	0
December 28	Providence 	5 	Dalhousie 	4
December 29	Dalhousie 	6 	Boston University	5
December 29	Army 	5 	Brown 	2
December 29	Providence 	10 	Northeastern 	3
===1961===
===1962===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 26	Colorado College 	5 	Boston University	4
December 26	Harvard 	11 	Northeastern 	6
December 27	Harvard 	10 	Boston University	3
December 27	Colorado College 	5 	Northeastern 	3
December 28	Boston University	7 	Northeastern 	5
December 28	Harvard 	3 	Colorado College 	2 (OT)
===1964===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 28	Northeastern 	4 	Boston University	3
December 28	Michigan 	4 	Harvard 	2
December 29	Boston University	8 	Harvard 	0
December 29	Michigan 	7 	Northeastern 	2
December 30	Michigan 	4 	Boston University	3
December 30	Harvard 	5 	Northeastern 	1
===1965===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 27	Boston University	7 	Michigan 	2
December 27	Michigan Tech 	8 	Northeastern 	5
December 28	Boston University	4 	Northeastern 	1
December 28	Michigan Tech 	7 	Michigan 	6
December 29	Michigan Tech 	5 	Boston University	2
December 29	Michigan 	6 	Northeastern 	2
===1966===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 28	Boston University	7 	Harvard 	5
December 28	Cornell 	4 	Northeastern	2
December 29	Boston University	6 	Northeastern	1
December 29	Cornell 	4 	Harvard 	1
December 30	Boston University	3 	Cornell 	3 (2OT)
December 30	Harvard 	5 	Northeastern	4 (OT)
===1967===
Round Robin
Date 	Winning Team 	Score	Losing Team 	Score
December 28	Boston University 	8 	Merrimack 	1
December 28	St. Francis Xavier	5 	Northeastern 	2
December 29	Boston University 	8 	Northeastern 	4
December 29	St. Francis Xavier	5 	Merrimack 	4
December 30	Boston University 	7 	St. Francis Xavier	2
December 30	Northeastern 	6 	Merrimack 	5 (2OT)
===1968===
===1969===
===1970===
==Participating teams==
Team 	# of times participated	Titles
Boston University 	17 	6
Harvard 	8 	2
Michigan State 	3 	2
Providence 	3 	1
St. Lawrence 	3 	1
Clarkson 	2 	1
Michigan 	2 	1
Cornell 	1 	1
McGill 	1 	1
Michigan Tech 	1 	1
Toronto 	1 	1
Northeastern 	14 	0
Brown 	7 	0
Boston College 	6 	0
Army 	2 	0
Dalhousie 	2 	0
Dartmouth 	2 	0
Tufts 	2 	0
Colby 	1 	0
Colorado College 	1 	0
Merrimack 	1 	0
Middlebury 	1 	0
New Hampshire 	1 	0
Notre Dame 	1 	0
Queen's 	1 	0
St. Francis Xavier	1 	0
==References==
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==External links==
Category:College ice hockey tournaments in the United States
Category:Ice hockey in Massachusetts