Daniel Jang

Men’s hockey had two exciting games this past weekend, coming back from a deficit on Saturday to beat Wesleyan, ranked top five in the NESCAC, 4-3, but losing to number one ranked team in the league Trinity College 4-3 in overtime on Sunday. The team, however, is still ranked eighth in the league, which was its final standing last season.

According to Coach Jamie Dumont, the two games this weekend exemplified the best that the team has played all season.

“It was a huge confidence builder for us because it proved that we can play with those [top-ranked teams like Trinity] when we’re on our A-game” said Dumont. “Playing a team like Wesleyan on Saturday that is very experienced, we found a way to put them away. And then on Sunday playing the best team in the league, we hung with them right through overtime [until] they made a big play.”

Dumont believes that these games set up the team well for the upcoming weekend.

“It was a really good learning experience for our young players, but we have to tip our cap to our seniors who are just doing a great job leading,” said Dumont. “[Their leadership is] going to pay huge dividends for us going into this weekend coming up.”

The Polar Bears’ last two games this season are against Tufts and Connecticut College, and will determine their placement in playoffs.

“All our systems have started to click,” said Spencer Antunez ’18. “The chemistry’s there with all of our lines and we just know that, all the way from the crease out, we’ve got six guys working together.”

With the successes from this past weekend, the team hopes to ride its momentum going into this weekend.

“We want to build on the things that allowed us to be successful this past weekend, and bring the same resiliency,” said captain Daniel McMullan ’18.

Dumont echoed this sentiment.

“The one big thing that we talk about as coaches is that we want to put ourselves in the position to be able to control our own destiny,” Dumont said. “We have the ability to control our own destiny with a win on Friday, but it’s going to take everybody … to get us there.”

If the team pulls off the win against Tufts this weekend, it is automatically secured a spot into the playoffs for the NESCACs championship.

The Polar Bears will head to Tufts on Friday, February 16 to face the Jumbos at 7:00 p.m., and will afterwards travel to Connecticut College to play the Camels at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 17.