1. Bowdoin Polar Bears
2012-13 Record 19-3-2 Overall
13-3-2 NESCAC (1st in NESCAC)
Overall (Conference Rank) Conference Games (conf. rank)
Offense: 4.38 G/GM (1st) Offense: 4.22 G/GM (1st)
Defense: 2.58 G/GM (4th) Defense: 2.61 G/GM (4th)
Power Play: 29/107 - 27.1% (1st) Power Play: 21/78 -26.9% (2nd)
Penalty Kill: 101/125 - 80.8% (6th) Penalty Kill: 74/93 - 79.6% (6th)
by Benet Pols
Preseason predictions
Tim Costello, writing for USCHO, and Chris Roy writing for the Maine Hockey Journal nailed their preseason assessments of the Polar Bears. Costello had the Polar Bears, last year’s regular season runners-up, picked to finish first, while Roy noted the Polar Bears would finish “atop” the conference.
Honorable mention to the 10-5 loss to Trinity. But the game was at a neutral site and Bowdoin had already locked up the first seed, so we'll give them a little pass (but only a little).
Both Costello and Roy noted the potency of the returning offensive players and the quality of the returning goaltender junior Steve Messina (G, Jr.).
Roy also predicted the emergence of Max Fenkell (G, So.) as Messina’s back-up between the pipes. Indeed Fenkell is leading NESCAC in both goals against average (1.73) and save percentage (0.941, tied with Trinity’s Coulthard). Because Messina and Fenkell have split the conference games evenly, and Messina has seen most of the out-of-conference action, Fenkell has less game time (589 minutes) than others on the leader boards (Coulthard, Trinity, 1066; Dougherty, Williams, 1332; Corey, Amherst, 1083; Messina, Bowdoin, 809).
Meanwhile, the WordPress Blog picked the Polar Bears to finish second behind Amherst. But the blogosphere dug a little deeper noting the “heavy, heavy scoring power in the form of the top four returning scorers in the league in Colin Downey, Harry Matheson, John McGinnis, and Ollie Koo.” WordPress also postulated a possible return to form for Daniel Weiniger (F, Sr.) who’d scored almost at will his first two years at Bowdoin, 13 goals his first season and 20 the second, only to slump in his Junior season with just seven tallies (5-7-12 NESCAC, 7-9-16 overall). Indeed Weiniger has had a great season so far, collecting better than a point a game (1.09) with a team leading 15 goals to go with 10 helpers.
The blog also spotted Bowdoin’s Achilles Heal--the penalty box--noting Bowdoin had led NESCAC two years running in penalties. This year, Bowdoin finished second in both overall PIM (15.8) and conference PIM (14.6).
Season Review
The Polar Bears have enjoyed a remarkably consistent season. While scoring a league leading 100 goals, 71 of them coming in conference play, and averaging 4.35 goals per game overall and 4.22 per in conference, the team from Brunswick has scored more than five goals just four times this season. The season high was a seven-goal effort at Connecticut College back in December. Bowdoin’s lowest outputs, a pair of two goal efforts, book-ended the season thus far: a 2-0 win against Williams on November 16th and a 2-1 win against Connecticut College on February 16th. Even when losing the Polar Bears have put the puck in the net, scoring 5 times in an overtime loss to Wesleyan and netting three in a loss to Amherst.
In addition to consistency across the season, the Polar Bears have spread the scoring around the roster. Five Polar Bears are in double figures: Senior Co-Captain Daniel Weiniger (15), Junior Ollie Koo (13), Junior Harry Matteson (11), Senior Rob Toczylowski (12), & Sophomore John McGinnis (10). Junior playmaker, Colin Downey, who has played just 17 games, is not far behind with seven goals. The emerging sophomore Connor Quinn, always a threat man-down, has eight.
Senior Co-Captain Tim McGarry anchors the defense; he’s paired most frequently with freshman Gabe Renaud, the newcomer on the team who gets the most playing time. Sophomore Ryan Collier and Junior Jay Livermore add stability to a blue line corps that has seen its share of injuries and changing personal. Senior Ryan Carney and Junior Nick Wetzel have missed a number of games, leading to Freshman Blake Cormier seeing more action late in the season. Meanwhile sniper Ollie Koo, who usually plays up front, spent the last weekend on the blue line.
If there’s a notable oddity in Bowdoin’s season it’s that two of the three losses and one of the Polar Bear’s two ties have come at home.
High Point
The three games following the Polar Bears first loss, a disappointing 6-5 overtime setback against Wesleyan. Bowdoin seemed to have the Wesleyan game well in control with 4-1 lead very late into the second period. The Polar Bears rebounded the next afternoon taking down a competitive Trinity squad, 5-2. The following weekend brought the toughest road trip of the year with games against 2nd place Williams and Bowdoin’s hockey bête noire for the last twenty years, Middlebury. Both games featured outstanding goal-tending with Messina getting 35 saves in the 4-1 win over the Ephs and Fenkell blanking the Panthers the following day with 38 saves.
Given Bowdoin's weak out of conference schedule this year, picking up wins against conference leaders and perennial contenders was crucial.
Low Point
Without a doubt the first period of the February 1st tilt against Lord Jeffs of Amherst. The Polar Bears fell behind 2-0 within the first 8 minutes, the first time all season they’d trailed by more than a goal. Bowdoin got one back but the Lord Jeffs led 4-1 at the end of the first period after scoring on four of their first six shots. The fourth goal was a monument to lack of concentration. Three Polar Bears stared at a rebound before Amherst’s Nick Brunette potted it.
Team MVP
Daniel Weiniger (F, Sr.) Because he’s re-emerged to lead the team in goals after a middling junior year, the nod has to go to Co-Capt. Daniel Weiniger.
Bowdoin is clearly an offensive team, but with the goal scoring spread so broadly across the roster this is a hard pick. Early in the year it could have been Koo, in January Matheson was the easy pick.
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