Three-Goal Third Period Gives Bowdoin Advantage in Men's Ice Hockey Quarterfinal
Courtesy Bowdoin Sports Information
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Score
BRUNSWICK, Maine - The third-seeded Bowdoin
College men's ice hockey team scored three times in the third
period to pull away from sixth-seeded Amherst in a 5-1 NESCAC
Quarterfinal victory on Saturday in Brunswick. The Polar Bears
improve to 16-6-3 and will play at Middlebury next Friday in the
NESCAC Semifinals, with game time and opponent to be available
later this evening. Amherst finishes their year with a record of
12-12-1.
Bowdoin dominated the pace of play in the
opening frame, out-shooting the visitors 18-5 and finally broke
through with under four minutes remaining in the period. Sebastien
Belanger stepped in front of an Amherst pass at the blue line and
skated in alone on Jeffs goaltender Josh Fillman. Belanger ripped a
slap shot that slipped between the pads of Fillman and trickled
over the goal line for a 1-0 Bowdoin lead at 16:51. Bowdoin
increased their lead to two goals mid-way through the second stanza
on the powerplay, when Mike Westerman buried a slap shot into the
back of the net from the right face-off circle to make it 2-0 Polar
Bears after two periods.
Amherst managed to cut the lead to one goal
early in the final stanza, as Brandon Zangel took a feed in front
of Bowdoin goalie George Papachristopoulos and slipped the puck
inside the right post to make it 2-1 at 3:10. But the Polar Bears
responded a minute later, as Colin Hughes drilled a shot from
between the circles that rebounded off Fillman to the waiting stick
of Jon Landry, who put home the loose puck for a 3-1 lead at 4:05.
Mike Chute provided some insurance with a goal
at 10:18 before Westerman closed out the scoring with his second
goal of the night at 18:02.
Papachristopoulos finished with 20 saves and set
the school record for consecutive shutout minutes in the process.
Amherst's first goal of the night came 43:10 into Saturday's
contest, lifting the senior goaltender's streak to 180 minutes and
58 seconds, surpassing Dave Pardus' mark of 173:56 set in the
1983-84 campaign. Fillman made 27 saves in defeat for Amherst.
