Blackwell gets first taste of the Beanpot

BOSTON – For Colin Blackwell, setting foot on the ice at TD Garden was nothing new.The St. John’s Prep grad captained the Eagles team that came to Boston last March and lost to Malden Catholic in overtime of the Division 1A tournament. On Monday, the North Andover native was back in Beantown, this time wearing the colors of the Harvard Crimson.Unfortunately for Blackwell, the result was the same as the last time he was in the Garden. Despite playing well in his initial foray into the pressure cooker that is the Beanpot, Blackwell and the Crimson dropped a 3-1 decision to Boston University in the semifinals.”Playing here is something you dream about as a kid and to get to do it twice in a year is amazing,” Blackwell said. “I wish the outcome would have been a little different. But the atmosphere out there was just unbelievable.”Blackwell has fit right in for coach Ted Donato’s team as he entered Monday night’s contest tied for fourth on the Crimson in scoring with 15 points from his new position on the right wing after plying his trade at center for the Prep.The adjustment to the speed of Division 1 hockey is something that most true freshmen have a hard time coming to grips with. But for Blackwell, things seemed to settle down quite quickly.”Everyone talks about the difference in speed and there definitely was an adjustment that I had to make,” Blackwell said. “And it took a while but after a couple of games and practices everything seemed to slow down a bit.”Blackwell was certainly a force in his first Beanpot game on Monday as he had six shots on goal through the first 40 minutes of play against the Terriers. But that was not a surprise, according to Donato.”Colin has stepped in right away and been a force for us,” Donato said. “He plays with a lot of energy, speed and skill.”That skill was on display for the nearly packed house late in the first period after the Terriers had taken a 2-0 lead. With Harvard shorthanded late, defenseman Dan Ford sent Blackwell in on a breakaway against Kieran Millan.Blackwell made a nifty move that seemed to have Millan fooled, but the Terrier netminder reacted quickly and made an athletic save on his shot to keep it 2-0 and steal away a lot of the Crimson’s momentum.”I would like to have that one over again,” Blackwell said. “I thought I made a pretty good move but the goalie got back and made a great save. That could have been a big momentum boost for us.”Blackwell and his linemates, Luke Greiner and Eric Kroshus, were a force all game and kept generating chances on the Terrier net but nothing got past Millan.With his team still down by two goals late in the third, Donato showed a ton of confidence in the freshman when he put him out to take offensive zone face-offs and it nearly paid off twice in goals.”The coaches have a lot of confidence in me and that’s definitely a big boost,” Blackwell said. “Playing in a lot of high pressure situations last year has helped a lot too.”BC defeated Northeastern, 7-1, and will go on to play BU in the final.