Courtsey of Brian Beard

Goaltender Sarah Peterson ’27 was named NESCAC Women’s Hockey Player of the Week last week after making a total of 61 saves over the team’s (6–0–0; 4–0–0 NESCAC) two-game sweep against Colby College nearly two weeks ago. The victories, which brought the Polar Bears to a 4–0–0 season for the first time since 2006, also marked the first time Bowdoin has swept Colby in 10 years.

Peterson explained the excitement surrounding the two games. The first game was played in Brunswick on Friday and the second in Waterville on Saturday.

“It was a lot of fun. I love playing Colby, and it’s fun because we play one [game] here, and then we play one there, which is fun to split every year,” Peterson said. “It was super exciting. They’re always a good team to play, and the energy’s always super high.”

The energy of the team was one of the main factors contributing to the Colby win.

“That’s been one of our team goals this year, to have not only the people playing, but the people on the bench being really supportive, being really excited to be there. The team itself is awesome. We have a lot of fun. I think that contributes, too, because everyone is very excited and happy and wanting to play,” Peterson said.

Hockey has always been part of Peterson’s life: Her father and grandfather, who were also hockey players, introduced her to the sport at the early age of two years old. Peterson hasn’t always been a goalkeeper, however, having been initially introduced to the position when there was a vacancy on a team she played on back home. She explained what she has since come to love about being a goalie.

“It’s very mental. You’re in your head a lot of the game. And it’s a good skill to learn, how to keep an even mindset, no matter if something goes your way or doesn’t go your way, just kind of staying even. It’s a challenge, physically and mentally,” Peterson said. “You don’t move a lot, but every movement is very precise, and you have to be exactly where you want to be.”

One of the moments in Peterson’s hockey career of which she is most proud is her decision to stay with the sport during a rough patch with her high school hockey team.

“When I was in high school, my first two years, my team was really good, but then our team kind of blew up, for lack of a better term. A bunch of the people who were really good left, and then we were terrible for two years,” Peterson said. “That was a really hard transition, being really good, then not being really good. And I think that I’m proud of myself for sticking with it.”

Peterson also elaborated on her decision to continue playing hockey for the Polar Bears, influenced by the College’s similar climate to her hometown in Minnesota, how nice the people are and the close-knit team.

“It was really exciting to be given the opportunity to keep playing, especially because after college, for women, there aren’t a ton of opportunities to keep playing,” Peterson said. “It was very exciting to get another four years to keep playing hockey.”

College hockey has been a change of scenery for Peterson, with the NESCAC being much more competitive than her high school matches.

“One of the main differences [between hockey in high school and college] I would say, for me, is that the NESCAC conference is very competitive, whereas in my high school, there were some good teams and some bad teams. But every NESCAC team is very competitive, which is fun because it makes every game important,” Peterson said.

Heading into the rest of the season, Peterson and the team hope to continue working on consistency and keeping calm. The team will especially focus on starting the game off strong and continue its momentum throughout the three 20-minute periods.

“[I want to focus on] being calm throughout the game, because it’s easy to be, like, ‘Oh we scored, very exciting,’ or I get scored on, and that can be hard. It’s really important to try and keep a steady mindset,” Peterson said. “I think the team is also trying to work on a three-period system as well, so coming out strong, playing consistently.”