The men's hockey team returned to its winning ways with a 4-1 trouncing of Salem State University Friday night followed by a hard-fought 6-6 draw with the University of Southern Maine (USM) Saturday evening.
The Bears hauled their way up to sixth in the NESCAC table following this weekend's action.
Bowdoin struck early to set the tone for the game against Salem State. Brunswick native Kit Smith '11 lit the lamp with 1:27 gone in the first as he beat the Vikings' goalie off a quick shot from a face-off in the offensive zone.
Bowdoin held the lead until the Vikings pulled one back at 15:37 in the second period.
Bowdoin, however, had too much passion for the Vikings to contain and left its mark on the scoreboard in the third period. First year Jordan Lalor scored a short-handed goal at 2:39 over the goalie's blocker to propel Bowdoin into the lead.
Benjamin Tsujiura '12 eased Bowdoin further ahead at 8:05 with his first of the season.
Jeff Fanning '11 then iced the win at 18:21 with a short-handed empty net goal.
Goaltender Richard Nerland '12 made 16 of 17 stops en route to an important victory.
Saturday evening was fan appreciation day at Watson Arena, and those who made their way out were treated to a flurry of goals.
Colin MacCormack '10 opened the scoring following a Husky turnover at 5:10 in the first period.
Kyle Hardy '11 added a second at 17:11 with a wicked wrist shot following a two-on-one over the goalie's glove.
Momentum shifted in the second period as the Bears conceded four goals to the Huskies.
An otherwise dour second period was punctuated by a fierce goal from the blue line by defender Kyle Hanson '11.
Bowdoin slipped even further behind as USM scored its fifth at 9:27 into the third period, yet the momentum shifted once more as the Huskies made the mistake of gifting a Bowdoin squad hungry for goals with a glorious opportunity. Two USM penalties led to a five-on-three opportunity, and Brendan Reich '11 scored at 10:17 following a feed from Graham Sisson '12 from behind the net.
Still on the power play, Mike Corbelle '10 ripped a shot at 10:33 that rifled its way past the USM keeper.
With the game level at 5-5, disaster seemingly struck at 12:35 as the puck took an odd bounce into the path of an onrushing Husky, who slotted past Nerland to ease USM ahead.
Yet the Bears had the last word as Corbelle scored his seventh of the season on the power play. With only 1:29 remaining, he blasted a shot through the USM goalie's legs and into the back netting. The game remained level through overtime and the two teams left the ice with a point apiece.
Nerland stopped 25 of 31 in the 12-goal thriller.
Sisson, currently tied for third in goals scored for Bowdoin with six, gave some insight into the Bowdoin turnaround.
"The leaders, the captains, [seniors] Matt Smith and Mike Collins, they took us in the right direction and got us on the right track," he said. "They stepped up and it worked out."
Having started to rediscover their early-season form, Sisson is optimistic about the Bears' chances looking into the postseason.
"It's a one game and done so anything can happen," he explains. "Hopefully we can go pretty far."
Bowdoin visits Hamilton tonight at 7 p.m. and faces off against Amherst tomorrow at 3 p.m.