Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last Friday, the men’s hockey team (14–5–1; 10–3–1 NESCAC) fought its way to a 2–1 win over Hamilton College (16–2–2; 12–1–1 NESCAC), becoming the first NESCAC team to bag a victory over the Continentals all season.

Amidst the excitement of their decisive win over Colby, the Polar Bears quieted their celebration and fixated on working towards a Hamilton defeat. In early January, the Continentals defeated the Polar Bears 3–2 in Clinton, N.Y. Head Coach Ben Guite emphasized the Hamilton rematch as a test of the team’s potential.

“[The team] knew Hamilton was the second-ranked team in the country, so I don’t think it was too hard for them to get up for that one,” Guite said. “Coming out of Colby, they played a great game, and they wanted to measure up and see if they could play a great game against a really top-end opponent.”

Forward Louie Marcellino ’29 earned the Polar Bears an early lead against Hamilton, scoring seven minutes into the game.

“I walked in and saw there was no one really on me, and I thought, ‘No better time to try and beat the goalie’ because [Hamilton has] a very good penalty kill—it had only been scored on twice all year,” Marcellino said. “I just saw open net, closed my eyes a bit, shot it and prayed for the best.”

To Guite, that intuition for capitalizing on promising scoring chances exemplifies an overall strength of the team.

“We can score in bunches. We sniff blood in the water, and then we pounce and stay on it. We have that ability to break games open in a short amount of time,” Guite said.

Beyond offensive prowess, Marcellino added that a solid defensive line provided a springboard for other areas of play.

“Our defense is so good at shutting other teams’ top guys out, ” Marcellino said. “And then we also have a bunch of guys that could put the puck in the net. We’re pretty much a well-oiled machine; we don’t really have a hole in our game.”

Against Amherst College (10–8–2; 5–8–1 NESCAC) last Saturday, the Mammoths had a leg up on finding shots on frame, even though  none found the back of the net. After spending the majority of the match tied 0–0, the team managed to find three late goals, with Marcellino netting the first one.

Goaltender Jacob Osborne ’28 sees the team’s persistence as its greatest strength.

“We’ve been in games where [when] we’ve gotten down, we’ve given up a goal,” Osborne said. “Some teams would just roll over and give the other team the win, but we came back right away, scored 30 seconds later and scored the game winner three minutes later. We just won’t give up.”

The team knows that it will be difficult to keep up its momentum in the coming games, which will determine its seed for the NESCAC playoffs.

“Our [final] four opponents are fighting for their lives as far as playoffs in the NESCAC,” Guite said. “You’re going to get their best, and down the stretch, you always get tougher opponents that are much harder to beat. And that’s been our thing: being harder to play against.”

The team is setting its sights on the NESCAC trophy and inching towards cementing themselves in program history one hard-fought game at a time.

The Polar Bears play Trinity College (10-9-1; 4–9–1 NESCAC) today at 7 p.m.