After beating Trinity and Wesleyan on the road last weekend, the men's ice hockey team controls its own destiny heading into its final two games of the regular season.
The team, which is currently ranked No. 15 in the country, will play St. Anselm on Friday night and New England College on Saturday afternoon. If the Polar Bears win both games, they are guaranteed to have home-ice advantage for the duration of the playoffs.
Last season, the team fell to St. Anselm and New England College 3-2 and 4-2, respectively. In both games, the opposing team scored the game-winning goal with less than 15 minutes remaining in the third period.
This year, St. Anselm is 12-9-1 with a 4-4 record against NESCAC opponents. New England College is 9-12-2 with a 3-5 NESCAC record.
With the season winding to a close, the Polar Bears will have to retain their focus.
"I think the key to our continued success is going to be combating the urge to become complacent," said Captain Colin MacCormack '10. "We need to ensure we bring the same kind of work ethic everyday."
The team's success last weekend against Trinity was, again, largely due to special teams and goaltending. The Polar Bears jumped out to an early lead with a power play goal by junior defenseman Brendan Reich only two minutes into the game. Reich scored another goal in the first period, and Senior Ryan Blossom added a third early in the second period.
Trinity cut the score to 3-1 on a goal by Adam Houli later in the second period and then slashed the lead to one on a score by Jordan So late in the third period.
However, Trinity's hopes were dashed with a Bowdoin goal by junior Kyle Shearer-Hardy that brought the score to 4-2. Senior goalie Chris Rossi finished with 34 saves and Daniel Weiniger had three assists.
The Polar Bears carried that momentum into their Saturday game against Wesleyan as sophomore Graham Sisson led off the scoring at the 8:45 mark.
Wesleyan came right back, however, as Chris MacDonald netted a goal as the first period wound down.
Junior Jeff Fanning, who currently leads the Polar Bears with 13 goals, scored a goal and broke the tie early in the second period off a pass from senior Leland Fidler. Senior Mike Corbelle and Fanning scored the next two goals for the Polar Bears to put them up 4-1.
Though the Cardinals scored on a redirect from Brett Bandazian, Bowdoin came right back with Reich's third goal of the season. The goal turned out to be the final one of the game and the final score was 5-2.
The Polar Bears are currently on a four-game win streak and look to extend it this weekend against St. Anselm and New England College.
"We have a great race going on in the conference," said Head Coach Terry Meagher. "Our players have worked hard and deserve the opportunity to be part of an exciting finish to the regular season."
"To be in first right now is exciting," added MacCormack. "Home-ice advantage [would be] beneficial on several fronts. Playing at home limits fatigue from travel and gives us the chance to feed off the energy of the home crowd."