NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team was dealt a 3-2 overtime loss by Bowdoin on Monday afternoon at Dayton Arena in its first game in over a month.
 
Bowdoin (3-4-2, NESCAC 3-2-1) won its third NESCAC game in overtime this season when Wheeler provided the game winner just 18 seconds into the extra session. After circling in from the left side, he skated into the slot and finished with a shot in the top left corner of the net to lift the Polar Bears to their second overtime triumph in as many days.
 
The Camels, who were also playing their first home game since Nov. 20th, had a golden opportunity to score in the opening minutes when a Bowdoin player received a 5-minute major just 2:40 into the game. However, four shots were saved by Alex Kozic and another was blocked.
 
After a scoreless first period, both teams got on the board in the second. Jake Vaughan (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored the first goal for the Camels when he potted a loose puck with just three seconds left on another Camel power play, but the Polar Bears came back the other way to knot the score before the next intermission. Playing from the team's defensive zone, Bobby Pearl found Chris Brown to begin a breakaway opportunity that ended with an uncontested Fan Small beating sophomore Cam Fernandez on the right side.
 
Bowdoin took its first lead in the third on another transition play which developed into a 2-on-1 opportunity. Small netted his second goal of the game by wristing his shot from the left side with just 5:34 to play.
 
The hosts, however, did not go down easy and knotted the score between the teams for the second time with under three minutes in regulation when Will Winship set up junior Younghoon Choi (Seoul, South Korea) for a one-timer from the left circle. But even though the Camels carried the momentum into the extra session, it was the Polar Bears that quickly ended the game courtesy of Wheeler's knock shortly after the opening faceoff.
 
Kozic made 21 stops to earn the win between the posts for Bowdoin, while the Camels' Fernandez suffered the loss in a 24-save effort.
 
Connecticut College (1-5, NESCAC 0-3) will play its second of four NESCAC games this week when it visits Williams College tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.