When the Polar Bears take the ice tonight against archrival Colby, they will be looking to achieve a milestone. With the all-time series between the two schools standing in Bowdoin's favor at 99-86-8, the team is hoping to defeat the Mules and make it an even one hundred wins.
"Being older and having perspective, after 28 years, I can't tell you what will happen because each year, game, and event takes on its own personality," said head coach Terry Meagher. "It's a unique rivalry in the country and has the qualities [that one looks for in a rivalry] of location and a history of excellence for both programs."
The Polar Bears, 4-1-0 (3-1-0 NESCAC), will host the Mules, 3-3-1 (1-2-1 NESCSAC), tonight for the conference game, before traveling to Waterville for the non-conference rematch Saturday night. The Athletic Department announced on Wednesday that tickets had sold out for the game Friday night.
"The Colby game is always a battle no matter how well each team has been playing," said co-captain Kyle Shearer-Hardy '11. "These are our last two games before the winter holidays, so everyone is looking to end the first half of a season on a good note and there's no better way than beating Colby twice in one weekend."
The team has been hard at work all week in preparation for what most fans consider the biggest game of the season.
"The tendency in practice is that outside-the-glass factors start to get a little louder," said Meagher. "You want to get prepared, dot every 'i' and cross every 't,' and you get out of your own game flow. If anything, we want to err on the side of not disrupting the way we play our game."
The Polar Bears are coming off of a tough road trip to Skidmore and Castleton.
"I think the first road trip is always a little bit tough, especially when you're playing two gritty teams like Skidmore and Castleton," said Shearer-Hardy. "But I think we were lucky enough to come out of the weekend with one win."
Skidmore gained the upper hand in the first two periods Friday night, outshooting and outscoring Bowdoin 19-13 and 6-2 respectively. The Polar Bears rallied, however, with third period goals from Kyle Lockwood '14, Shearer-Hardy, Harry Matheson '14 and Jeff Fanning '11 that sent the game into overtime. Three of those goals were assisted by Daniel Weiniger '13.
"Daniel Weiniger has become much more of a complete player this season," said Shearer-Hardy. "And he was a big part of the reason why we were able to come back against Skidmore."
The team was unable to prevail in overtime, though, as a goal by the Thoroughbreds ended the contest two and a half minutes into the overtime period. Goalie Steve Messina '14 played two periods and had 13 saves, while Connor Shannon '13 played the third period and overtime and also had 13 saves.
"It is natural to expect a team to have bus legs, but this team has to learn that in order to be successful, you need to come off the bus ready to play," said Meagher. "Not that we played poorly, but it was a little bit of a flat start. We showed some character and battled back at the end of the game and it was due to good senior leadership. Connor came in for the third period and played well."
The Polar Bears bounced back the next day against Castleton. Fanning scored just one minute and 30 seconds into the game to establish a lead that the Polar Bears would never relinquish.
"We played a very good Castleton team," said Meagher. "[We were] in a hard rink to play in and a very enthusiastic, high energy home building. It was a big win for us."
Defenseman Kyle Hanson '11 gave Bowdoin its next goal shorthanded on a penalty kill after stealing the puck and wristing a laser into the top right corner. Aaron O'Callahan '12 scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the 3-2 contest with a one-timer from the blue-line in the second period. Goalie Richard Nerland '12 had 36 saves.
"After a long, draining game against Skidmore, we met a Castleton team that brought a physical, fast game to us in a small arena," said captain Kit Smith '11. "Thanks to a good first period and some timely saves by Richard Nerland in the second and third, we managed to scrape by with the win."
Between the Skidmore and Castleton games, Meagher played three different goalies. He has yet to decide who will start against Colby tonight.
Whoever plays, the team expects the game to be very competitive.
"Whenever we play Colby, it doesn't matter what our records might indicate," said Smith. "The team that puts together the more complete game is most often the team that emerges victorious."