The Bowdoin Men's Hockey Team will be excited to welcome back Polar Bear Nation this weekend after a fairly tumultuous start to the New Year.
The closing months of 2006 were kind to the Polar Bears who went into the Winter Break with an unbeaten record of 6-0-3. But for whatever reason, 2007 has proved to be a much more difficult venue as the men have stumbled to a 2-4 mark since the new year began.
It is not all gloomy faces and ominous skies around Dayton Arena, however, as the team is aware that it is still more than capable of snatching the crown in a tightly contested NESCAC division. The men were reminded of this potential in the two lone victories over winter break. The Polar Bears enjoyed comfortable wins over NESCAC rivals Williams, 3-1, and Middlebury, 6-2. The win over the Panthers, who are perennially one of the toughest outs in all of Division III, was especially impressive considering they have not suffered a big loss since 2003. These two victories, especially the latter, suggest that the Polar Bears have got what it takes to win the NESCAC this year.
The blockades that stand between Bowdoin and such success are two elements of the team that also led to victories earlier on in the campaign: its youth and the goaltending. Bowdoin relies on a talented mix of first-year players, a group that has responded exceptionally well thus far. However, some worry that they may run out of steam as the second half of the season continues to unfold. This group will need to prove skeptics wrong and continue its high level of play if Bowdoin is to succeed.
The goaltending, which started off the season at the top of almost every relevant statistical category in the NESCAC, has been struggling as of late. In the four losses that Bowdoin suffered over the break the Polar Bears out shot their opponents 148-91, but were still outscored 20-14. According to injured captain Bryan Ciborowski '07, the team is doing everything it can to remedy this.
"Our team has parked it and moved on...practice this past week has been phenomenal," he said.
This optimistic outlook, combined with a 41-save show from Chris Rossi '10 between the pipes, makes it easy to believe that the unit can and will come back to lead this team.
Bowdoin hopes to regain a spot in the national Division III top-15 poll with two solid performances against USM and Salem State this weekend at Dayton Arena. It will be a tough task without the services of the Polar Bears' second top point scorer, Ciborowski, who tore his MCL over the break. The tough captain hopes to make a comeback in time for the NESCAC playoff push in several weeks time. In the meantime, the men will have to battle without him to make sure they are still in a position to succeed by the time he recovers.