The men’s hockey team recovered from a three-goal deficit, besting Wesleyan (2-12-0 overall, 1-7-0 NESCAC) 4-3 in a battle on Saturday evening in Watson Arena. Three days later the Polar Bears returned to the ice and beat the University of New England  (6-10-1) 4-2. The victory brought the Polar Bears’ record to 9-4-2 (4-4-2 NESCAC).

After falling behind 3-0 in the first period against Wesleyan, the Polar Bears scored one in the second and notched three in the final period to secure the win.

 The team’s success was limited in the three games prior to this comeback. The team tied 4-4 at Hamilton (5-5-4 overall, 4-3-2 NESCAC) on January 9 before falling 4-2 to Amherst (10-3-2 overall, 6-3-2 NESCAC) on January 10 and 2-1 to Trinity (12-1-1 overall, 7-0-1 NESCAC) on January 16.

“Hamilton is a very difficult trip, the longest trip we made. We were behind and we showed resiliency and came back,” said Head Coach Terry Meagher. “On Saturday we played a good game as we played all year and we ended up losing to Amherst.”

In the tightly contested matchup against Amherst, the Lord Jeffs’ goalie Dave Cunningham made a total of 45 saves in the face of heavy pressure from Bowdoin’s offense. 

“They have one of the top goaltenders in the East,” said Meagher. “Again, we played a solid game. But goal sports, especially ice hockey, are challenging as the goaltender is so significant in the play.”

Bowdoin sits at fifth in the NESCAC behind Trinity, Williams, Amherst and Hamilton.
 “We’ve done well in handling adversity,” said Captain Ryan Collier ’15. “We had some challenges in scoring goals in the last eight games or so. But we keep our heads high and keep going, which we know will eventually allow us to get back to scoring goals and winning more hockey games.”

This year, 20 of the 34 team members are underclassmen. The first-years and sophomores have managed to hold their own. Forward Matthew Melanson ’18 scored the winning goal against Wesleyan. 

The Polar Bears return to NESCAC play tonight at Middlebury (6-2-2 overall, 3-2-2 NESCAC) and will play at Williams (9-3-2 overall, 5-2-1 NESCAC) tomorrow at 3 p.m.