Maine Hockey Journal

Bowdoin earns first win of the season

BRUNSWICK – Hockey can be a funny game.

On Sunday, the Bowdoin College Polar Bears and the UMass-Boston Beacons played in one of those games. The Polar Bears took advantage of some bounces in the 5-0 victory over the ninth-ranked team in the nation for their first win of the season.

“I think hard work is rewarded by the hockey gods,” Bowdoin coach Terry Meagher said. “If you keep going, the bounces will come, it’s the nature of the game. We capitalized on a couple of bounces, and there’s still inconsistent gaps and learning how to play for the young kids. The effort and focus, pulling as a team, it goes a long way in this game.”

Camil Blanchet threw the puck gently on goal for the opening shot of the game and somehow found its way past UMass-Boston keeper Billy Faust 23 seconds into the games. The goal gave Bowdoin their first lead of the season.

Meagher said you can see the relief from the bench after the goal as they have been chasing all season long.

The Polar Bears (1-3-1) couldn’t convert on their first power play of the contest, but ten seconds later Matt Sullivan found Matt Melanson in the slot with a beautiful pass to make 2-0 just past the halfway mark of the stanza. Mitch Barrington also had an assist on the goal.

“The playmaking is there,” Meagher said. “You have to remember this the fifth game in a very short period of time. With everything going on, it’s really hard to build a team without any scrimmages, and you are building your team as you play games that count.”

The power play was 0-for-7 on the man advantage while the Beacons were 0-for-3.

“The power play, we had a lot of good looks, it still has a lot of moving parts, the new people,” Meagher said. “It’s playing the percentages, and we aren’t doing that. Hopefully, that will come, but you have to have a couple of natural goal scorers. Will that surface? I don’t know. If it doesn’t, you have to get shots to the net and all the cliché stuff.”

Sabastian Foster stretched the lead to 3-0 when his shot flutter over the Beacons defensemen and goaltender with 1:13 remaining in the period. Cody Todesco was credited with an assist.

Bowdoin went into the dressing room with 4:26 remaining in a five-minute major power play as John Regnart of UMass-Boston (6-1-1) was called for contact to the head on Barrington.

The Polar Bears wouldn’t be able to convert on the extended power play.

Austin Ricci extended Bowdoin’s lead 2:35 into the third period with Cody Todesco picking up the lone assist. Bradley Potter capped off the scoring off with 2:01 remaining in the game when his shot knuckleballed its way into the net. Matt Sullivan was credited with the assist.

Peter Cronin made 38 saves for his second career shutout. His first shutout came last season on Jan. 17 when he came in relief in the 4-3 comeback win over Wesleyan. Billy Faust made 19 saves in the losing effort.

“I thought he was tight,” Meagher said of Cronin. “There were no holes and if they were going to beat them, they would have to make a great shot from somebody or a rebound. He was tight, and he made them work for everything. I thought his angles and his position in the net was solid. It was a big game for Peter all-around, personally and the team in front of him.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login