courtesy of Brian Beard/Bowdoin Athletics

This past weekend, the women’s hockey team improved their record to 10-8-1 (6-7-1 NESCAC) after splitting their series against the number 7 ranked Trinity College Bantams. Despite taking an early lead, Bowdoin lost 3-1 to Trinity on Friday, February 11th. On Saturday, however, the Polar Bears rallied to senior day 1-0 victory.

“In our league, it’s really tough to beat the same team two days in a row,” forward Angelina Joyce ’22 said. “We usually go into the first game as best as we can. Then, we can get a lot of information about the [other] team from that game and see what we need to do better.”

Despite the final score, Friday’s game had many good moments for the Polar Bears.

“The first period was one of the best periods we’ve played our entire season. We came out really strong,” Joyce said.

Joyce believes the nine Bowdoin penalties were called for, though two of which turned into goals for Trinity, made it difficult for the offense to gain significant momentum. Bowdoin went 0-6 on the power play, but the loss was all the more motivation to play harder on Saturday.

“I think going into Saturday, we obviously wanted to limit the amount of penalties that we were receiving, and we were just really hungry and frustrated with how Friday night’s game ended,” Joyce said.

In its second game, Bowdoin outshot their opponent 25-13 and refused to let Trinity score on any of their five power plays.

Many underclassmen players also wanted to earn the Class of 2022 a win on their senior day.

“[The seniors] embody everything about what it’s like to be on a team,” defenseman Elsa Cassidy ’24 said. “They show how inclusive it can be, and they don’t make it feel like there’s ever a difference in age or in skill between us. It is so easy to go play for them.”

Halfway through the first period, Cassidy intercepted a Trinity pass and found Joyce, who scored the go-ahead goal for the Polar Bears.

“I had to use my backhand, which is a little bit of a trickier pass for me. I remember looking up and seeing [Joyce],” Cassidy said. “She’s one of the best shooters on our team. I knew that if I was able to get the puck to her that it would have a really good chance of going in the net.”

The goal was especially meaningful for Joyce.

“My three brothers and my parents all came up [for senior day],” she said. “I really wanted to score one last goal in [Sidney J. Watson arena] before I graduated. So, going into that game and being able to do that, especially for my family and my team, was honestly unexplainable.”

The Polar Bears will hit the road to take on undefeated Middlebury on Friday, February 18, and Saturday, February 19 in the final two games of the regular season.

“We want to win. I don’t think we’re switching anything up or looking at these games any differently,” Joyce said. “I have no doubt in my mind that we can do it. It’s all about showing up and doing our jobs like we did [last] weekend.”
After the two-game series against Middlebury, the Polar Bears will prepare for playoffs.

“[Playoffs] can be a real test, but there’s not another group that I think is more ready for it than us,” Cassidy said. “I think we’ve proven time and time again that we can overcome hardships. It’s something really special to be a part of.”