#Throwback Thursday: Rob Menzies

Social media outlets, ever the forum for historical perspective and alliteration, have a tradition of #ThrowbackThursdays, when users post pictures or videos of yesteryear on Thursdays (though hipsters might post with the hashtag on Wednesday).

In this spirit, we are going to post a throwback video, picture and/or game on Thursdays to give you a fix for your NESCAC hockey off-season jonesing. Today, thanks to Benet Pols, we have a vintage Bowdoin pic of Polar Bear goalie Rob Menzies from 1976. We'll have a larger article about the 1970's Bowdoin Polar Bears, including a video, but for now enjoy the photo tease and background from our resident Bowdoin connoisseur.

 by Benet Pols

Who shut-out the eventual NCAA Div II National Champion for 1978, Merrimack College Warriors, in the 1978 ECAC Division II final? Bowdoin's Rob Menzies, that's who.

While Merrimack would go on to take the National Title by defeating Mankato State 6-2 and thrashing Lake Forest 12-2 in the final of the NCAA tournament, there was one piece of hardware they didn't take and one goaltender they could not solve. The ECAC championship belonged to Menzies and Bowdoin in 1978. Menzies blanked the Warriors in the conference championship in Brunswick that spring, 3-0.  Bowdoin was prohibited by NESCAC guidelines from competing in the NCAA so the Warriors advanced.

For his shutout Menzies earned his second ECAC Tournament MVP award. Two years earlier in North Andover he'd stymied the same Merrimack Warriors with 46 saves in earning that year's ECAC tournament MVP award.

For the Polar Bears, it was their third ECAC Div II conference championship in four years.