"We have a special group that can accomplish a lot" : Bowdoin defeats UMD and earns trip to NCAA Quarterfinals

by Benet Pols

BRUNSWICK, ME -  “Absolutely. We have a special group that can accomplish a lot” answered Bowdoin’s Junior defender Jay Livermore (Wilbraham, MA) when asked after the game if, at the beginning of the season, he foresaw such success. “Our goal was to win the NESCAC and then make it a deep run in the NCAA.”

With Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in the first round of the NCAA D-III men's ice hockey tournament, the Polar Bears advance to play the Utica College Pioneers in the tourney's  quarterfinal round on Saturday, March 9th at the famed Utica Auditorium. It’s an 8:30 PM start due to a State High School tournament that will feature four HS games throughout the day.

Livermore, who had scored just one goal in 26 games this season, got the Polar Bears on the board at 9:21 of the first period with a slap shot from dead center at the point. Assists went to Ryan Collier (So. Pointe Claire, Que), who’d missed last weekend’s NESCAC tournament due to an injury incurred during warm-ups of the Middlebury game, and to John McGinnis (So. Cocoa, FL). The goal developed after Collier went deep down the right side on a break to the goal but was stuffed on the short side by the Corsairs’ senior goaltender, Ryan Williams (Milton, Ont). McGinnis fished the puck out of the corner and found Livermore. Livermore traded passes with Collier, who’d dropped back to the top of the circle, before letting his low slap-shot go.

The goal came mid-way through a power play while UMD’s outstanding blue-liner Stephen Ginand (So. Milford, MA) sat for tripping. The Corsairs, the least penalized team in the MASCAC and 5^th least penalized in the nation, went to the box three times in the first period (5 for the game), while usually penalty prone Bowdoin avoided the box completely during the first period.

Williams initial save on Collier, one of 19 for the period and 51 for the game, was typical of his play. Many of his saves came as he guarded post with his five hole slammed shut. The Corsairs came prepared to shut down Bowdoin’s circling offense. Coach John Rolli, who has earned 557 wins in 29 years at UMass Dartmouth, noted that the game plan was to “pack it in and keep the game at the (boards).”  Williams was solid throughout the night; he made occasional brilliant saves but the majority showed fundamentally strong, positional goaltending. Bowdoin’s coach Meagher called it a “remarkable performance” and noted that such calm under pressure can be intimidating for the team doing all the shooting.

After Livermore broke the ice, Bowdoin fans, who had by this time filled The Sid for an unusual Wednesday night game, hoped for more but the UMD goaltender came right back to form, stifling the Polar Bears again and again. The most dramatic opportunity featured Danny Palumbo on a two-on-one break from the sideboards that developed as a result of the Polar Bears’ relentless fore-check.  Taking a quick pass, Palumbo went for the far side. Williams, the Corairs goalie, met him and sent the he puck to the corner and and Palumbo the ice (a greatphoto of this and all the other action can be seen in Michele Stapleton’s photo gallery on the Bowdoin Athletics website).

The first period ended 1-0, even though the Polar Bears out-shot the Corsairs 19-3. Despite the differential, the Corsairs had several opportunities early but the shots were ripped wide.

The Polar Bears continued to shoot heavily in the second period but UMD found its groove and began to apply more regular pressure to the Bowdoin net. The Corsairs tied it when freshman Evangelos Stephanou (Tabernacle,NJ) found the back of the net by collecting a rebound and moving it around Bowdoin’s Steve Messina (Jr. G. Newton NJ) at 6:19 of the period; assists went to Colclough and Sartell.

Rebounds were the order of the period. Bowdoin’s Dylan Shamburger (Fr. Atlanta, GA) put the Polar Bears back in front when he gathered a rebound off a Jay Livermore shot and, showing remarkable patience, drew it back and moved around Williams for the backhand into the open net. Both Shamburger and Tim Coffey (So. Cumberland RI) took swipes at Livermore’s shot in an effort to redirect. The bang-bang play included a UMD defender in front, so Williams was well screened. Livermore and Coffey picked up helpers (for video of this goal, as well as the four other Bowdoin goals, see Bowdoin Sports Info video below).

With Livermore getting his second goal of the year and Shamburger netting his third, Coach Meagher noted “secondary scoring is always important, but that the primary scorers need to score” to win.

The Polar Bear lead was short-lived as the Corsairs’ Casey Skolnik answered back on another rebound. It was the freshman from Ashland, Oregon’s first career goal and his Captain retrieved the puck as a souvenir. Skolnik may remember it differently, but with his back to the net he swiped at a rebound and just grazed the puck with the heel of his stick. The change-up dribbled back through Messina's five-hole and crawled over the goal line.

At the other end, Williams continued to make saves, tying the puck up whenever possible; UMD seemed to prefer a faceoff to dealing with the Bowdoin fore-check. The Corsairs continued to show signs of vitality with Messina called on to make a solid glove save with 3:50 to go. In all, the Corsairs put 11 shots on goal for the second.

Late in the period, Tim Coffey made a great block just inside the Bowdoin blue line that sent the puck bouncing to a streaking Connor Quinn (So. Sudbury, MA) on a two-on-one break. Quinn elected to go wide rather than pass across a sprawling Crosair defender(Zach Helper). The sophomore from Sudbury took the puck to the boards, but moments later the Corsairs William Colclough was called for hooking at 18:01.

With Ollie Koo (Jr. Greenwich, CT) playing the right point, the Corsairs just cleared the blue line; Koo,with two UMD penalty killers in pursuit, patiently corralled the bouncing puck at the redline in front of the opposing bench. Instead of leaving one player to pursue Koo, both Corsairs opted to change up. Koo pivoted and across an empty neutral zone found junior Kyle Lockwood (Ridgefield, CT) at the blue line. Lookwood shifted right and using the defense as a screen blistered a low wrist shot to the blocker side. Lockwood, with his tenth goal, became the sixth polar Bear skater in double digits for the year; Koo got the helper.

Lockwood and linemates Rob Toczylowski (Sr. Reading, MA) and Rob MacGregor (Sr. Collegeville, PA) had been getting steady looks at the net for several shifts, which lent an air of inevitability to the goal.

Bowdoin led 3-2 with just 24 ticks on the clock. The period wasn’t over though, as Bowdoin’s Jay Livermore picked up a minor for interference, giving the Corsairs an opportunity to get back in it with a power play to start the third period.

But at just 1:18 of the third, Bowdoin struck for a shorthanded goal. Again it was the Bowdoin fore-check that proved decisive. Colin Downey’s (Jr. East Sandwich, MA) play at the boards freed up the puck; he and John McGinnis headed for the net two on one. Downey went to the far side taking the lone defender with him and dropped the puck back across to McGinnis leaving him with just the goaltender to contend with. McGinnis drew Williams across the crease with a feint to the backhand and then went back to his forehand to beat the goalie stick side for his 11th marker of the season.

UMD’s Coach, John Rolli acknowledged that the Corsairs power play had not performed well this season and the shorthanded goal to start the third period was a turning point. McGinnis agreed, pointing out that any late goal, like Lockwood’s to end the 2nd, provides an emotional edge, but when it’s followed up with an early score to begin the following period it changes the whole game.

A scary moment occurred when Captain Daniel Wieniger took what appeared to be a pretty solid blow to the head from the Corsairs Captain Nick Marquis (Sr. Londonderry, NH); Weiniger went down and lay flat on his back while the trainer, and then the team physician, were led across the ice. The official whistled the play immediately and sent the teams to their benches. While the four officials conferred at the blue line, fans closest to where the hit occurred called for a major penalty, but none was forthcoming. When play resumed and Bowdoin’s Tozcylowski was subsequently whistled for boarding, derisive booing ensued. For the fan's reaction to the refs, see Michele Stapleton’s photos.

Ryan Williams continued to make saves for UMass Dartmouth but the handwriting was on the wall. Fans began to drift out of the Sid when senior Al Milley notched his first of the season with a screened shot from the point at 12:07 of the period. It was Milley’s 14th appearance this season. Colin Downey picked up his second assist of the night.

The vibe was decidedly different in the Sid from this past weekend. Although the stands filled up and the rails were well occupied, the tone was more business like than it had been for the NESCAC tournament. For one thing, the opponent was unfamiliar and the emotionalism and familiar intensity that Williams or Middlebury brings was muted. For another, the crowd was different; fewer kids made the Wednesday evening game and students are enduring mid-terms before heading to break this weekend. But more important was the fact that this seemed to be a game Bowdoin just needed to grind out. It was apparent from the start that UMD was over-matched. It was a question of not making mistakes and solving the conundrum of the Corsairs' rock between the pipes.

It will be a different feeling Saturday night at the Aud in Utica, NY. If Utica fans there bring half the fervor  to the game that they bring to the message boards on USCHO.com and D3Hockey.com, Coach Meagher’s group can expect a raucous greeting; they’ll need every ounce of their "calm confidence."

Video highlights from the Post Game Presser below. Courtesy Bowdoin Sports Info 

Benet Pols is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont but grew up watching Bowdoin Polar Bear men's hockey. He was in Dayton Arena in 1971 when Dick Donovan's overtime goal against the University of Vermont gave Bowdoin its first championship, for what was then the ECAC Div. II. He has not been able to shake the feeling.