The 65^th Beanpot championship is in the books and for the first time since 1993, a team not named Boston College or Boston University has won it, with the Harvard Crimson grabbing the trophy Monday night at the TD Garden.

 The game between Harvard and the BU Terriers featured four Bruins prospects, and for the BU guys, it was an obviously disappointing night as the team sought a record 31^st Beanpot title.

 The championship’s outcome was not so much about Charlie McAvoy or Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson playing poorly (though neither had particularly strong performances) as it was about Harvard rising up and then Ryan Donato putting an exclamation point on the win with a great individual effort. Teammate and 2013 fifth-round project pick Wiley Sherman is enjoying a solid junior season in Cambridge as well.

 With 16 goals in 25 games including 5 in his last two, Donato is starting to show the hockey world the sheer offensive acumen that saw him drafted in the second round after David Pastrnak in 2014. As a junior with Dexter, he potted nearly 3 points per game and rode that to a 56^th overall selection in Philadelphia. Now, Donato is taking his game to another level as a sophomore after a solid freshman campaign. He began to really put things together at the end of the 2014-15 season when he finished the year (after Dexter lost the 2015 prep championship to Salisbury) out in Nebraska with JFK and the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Lancer fans still talk about how impressive Donato was in his short time there and rue the fact that he wasn’t able to spend the whole season on that club.

 He’s got elite offensive hockey sense with tremendous hands and a will to compete and win.  Last year about this time, TSP interviewed Donato after losing in the 2016 Beanpot tourney and the soon-to-be 21-year-old declared that the Crimson would be back in 2017, and that winning one for the first time since just after his dad left the team to join the U.S. Olympic squad and then the Bruins at the conclusion of the 1992 Albertville Winter Games was something he was determined to achieve.  Donato’s third period goal is worth watching over and over, because it shows that determination that is easy to talk about in an interview, but harder to pull off when the game is on the line.

Here’s the full highlight reel from the game courtesy of NESN, but the Donato goal comes at 5:45 for those only interested in that play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izboCRird3A

 There is also no need to rush Donato into the mix. He’s a sophomore and the Bruins can afford to wait another year before signing him, however- there is always a thought about the ticking clock on when he could become an unrestricted free agent. Like Anders Bjork, he will be eligible to sign with any team after August 15, 2018 (though he’s still NCAA-compliant to play through the 2018-19 season if he doesn’t turn pro). However, given his history with the city of Boston and the Bruins, it would be hard to imagine Donato passing up a chance to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing for the Black and Gold.

 For now- the Scituate native is one more impressive prospect to keep an eye on.

Amateur Prospects as of 02/15/17

Pro and European Prospects

# Czarnik recalled to Boston

*Arnesson, Ferlin injured

 Tyler Randell, Tommy Cross, Alex Grant > age 25- not listed