This year will mark the 70th Beanpot tournament. First played in 1952, it has featured four teams from in and near the city of Boston – Boston University, Boston College, Harvard, and Northeastern – every single year.

And yet somehow, there has never been a Harvard/Northeastern final. Not once ever.

This could be the year. But it probably won't be.

First of all, you have to understand that first-round games, which start this afternoon at TD Garden in Boston, rotate every year, so there are some seasons when Harvard and Northeastern play each other before the finals are even set. So that takes a third of the years played so far off the board.

Second, you have to understand that historically, Northeastern and Harvard are the two also-rans of the tournament. BU has 31 titles, including last seaso