Courtesy of Bowdoin Sports Information

BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Bowdoin College men's ice hockey team netted three goals in the third period to deal Amherst its first conference loss of the season, snapping the Jeffs' seven game unbeaten streak in a 7-4 decision on Friday evening at Sidney J. Watson Arena. 

Harry Matheson '14 led all scorers with two goals and an assist for the Polar Bears, who improved to 6-4-1 (4-2-1 NESCAC) while the Jeffs fell to 8-2-1 (5-1-0 NESCAC).

Bowdoin took advantage of an early 5-on-3 power play to take the lead 2:52 into the first. Jordan Lalor '12 skated the length of the ice, split a pair of defenders and backhanded a shot that slipped through the pads of Amherst senior goalie Jonathan LaRose '12 (Boyle, Alberta). 

At 12:54, Graham Sisson '12 fed John McGinnis '15 in front to double the Polar Bear lead, making it 2-0. 

The Jeffs got one back just before intermission when Andrew Kurlandski '14 (Kirkwood, Mo.) won a faceoff back to Erik Hansen '14 (Deephaven, Minn.), who snapped a shot from the slot over sophomore goalie Steve Messina's right shoulder to make it 2-1 with just 44 seconds left in the frame.

The Polar Bears quickly regained their two-goal edge early in the second as Jay Livermore '14 sliced down the ring wing and beat LaRose glove-side just 15 seconds into the period. 

Amherst rallied to tie the game thanks to a 5-on-3 opportunity just minutes later. On nearly duplicate plays 64 seconds apart, Mike Moher '15 (Toronto, Ontario) and Mike Rowbotham '15 (Stittsville, Ontario) scored on back-door feeds to even the score at 5:11.

A rush down ice briefly gave the Jeffs the lead at 14:36 as Dylan Trumble '13 (Calgary, Alberta) tucked a shot inside the post, but Bowdoin replied with a power play goal late in the stanza on a nifty tic-tac-toe feed from Ryan Collier '15 to Colin Downey '14, who backhanded a pass across the crease that was finished off by Matheson at 19:28.

Bowdoin took the lead for good early in the third period as a 2-on-1 rush saw Matheson feed Ollie Koo '14 for a goal at 5:05. Five minutes later, Matheson finished off another great pass from Downey to give the hosts a 6-4 edge with 9:58 remaining. Kyle Lockwood '14 closed out the scoring at 17:28, knocking home a rebound to put the wraps on the Bowdoin win.

LaRose finished with 32 saves for the Jeffs, who allowed a season-high seven goals. Messina finished with 25 stops for the Polar Bears in the win.

Amherst will look to bounce back into the win column when it travels to Colby on Saturday, Jan. 7.