BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team closed out the regular season, falling to host Bowdoin College 4-1 on Saturday afternoon from Walton Arena. With the loss Conn falls to 9-13-2 and 7-11-0 in NESCAC play, while Bowdoin improves to 14-6-4 overall and 10-4-4 in conference action.
Bowdoin (14-6-4, 10-4-4 NESCAC) started quickly, jumping out to a 1-0 lead at 3:21 on a goal from Bryce Bollman. Michael DiMascolo (Cranston, R.I.) responded with a shot for Conn (9-13-2, 7-11-0) shortly after, but his effort was stopped. The Polar Bears doubled the lead at 14:24 on a tally from Mattingly Wierl, to make it 2-0 after one.
The Camels started the middle frame quickly as Cole Eichler (King, Ontario) fired off an early shot, but he was turned aside. The teams traded chances for the rest of the period, but Bowdoin led 2-0 heading to the third.
Early in the third period, Jesse Lycan pushed the Bowdoin lead to 3-0. With time running down, the Camels finally got on the board at 14:34. Kei Yasuda (Nagoya, Japan) found the twine, as Logan Cleary (Mentor, Ohio) and Pete Stanger (Bathurst, New Brunswick) earned the assists. With just under three minutes left Conn pulled Sean Dynan (Reading, Mass.) for the extra attacker looking to score twice. With the net empty, Lycan tallied his second goal of the game, as Bowdoin came away with the 4-1 win.
Bowdoin outshot Conn 31-15, while the Camels held a slime 29-27 edge on draws.
Dynan got the start in net, stopping 27 of 30 shots. Yasuda tallied the lone goal, while Cleary and Stanger picked up the assists. Seth Stadheim (Lyme, N.H.) led the way with three shots on goal, while John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) won 10 of 18 face-offs. Conn finished the afternoon 1-3 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill.
Alex Kozic picked up the win in net, finishing with 14 saves. Lycan paced Bowdoin with two goals, while seven other Polar Bears added one point. Bowdoin finished 0-2 on the power play and 2-3 on the penalty kill.
Conn heads to the NESCAC playoffs as the six seed, and will take on third seed Tufts University in Medford, Mass. next Saturday at a time to be determined.
