It didn’t take long for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to backtrack on his support for sending the 2016 Beanpot to Northern Ireland.
After a visit to Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Walsh said it would be “wonderful” to take the college hockey tournament to Boston’s new sister city, per a BBC report. Unsurprisingly, Bostonians weren’t happy with the idea, as the tournament — which features Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern and Boston College — has taken place in the Hub for each of its 62 years of existence.
But the mayor’s office said Friday that Walsh never meant he wanted to bring the actual Beanpot to Belfast, but rather a Beanpot-like tournament featuring four to six teams.
“I spoke with the Mayor following the impressive press and social media firestorm that followed his interview earlier today,” Kate Norton, Walsh’s press secretary, said in a statement via College Hockey News. “He conveyed to me, in no uncertain terms, that — particularly as a Boston College grad and a hockey fan — he would never move a classic Boston event like the Beanpot out of our City.”
The BBC reported that Walsh plans to host a delegation about the idea at Boston City Hall in early October.
Photo via Twitter/@BelfastGiants
