Brunswick, Maine – The visiting Trinity College Bantam
men's ice hockey team scored twice in 39 seconds late in the third
period to take a 4-2 victory over the No. 8-ranked Bowdoin College
Polar Bears in New England Small College Athletic Conference
(NESCAC) men's ice hockey action this evening. The Bantams
improve to 9-8-3 overall and 6-8-1 in the NESCAC with their fourth
straight win, while the Polar Bears dip to 13-6-1 overall and 9-6-1
in the league.
Senior goalie Wesley Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) led the way for
the Bantams with 41 saves while the freshman pair Larry Bero
(Foxboro, Mass.) and Charlie Mullan (Buffalo, N.Y.) both
scored their first collegiate goals for Trinity, including the
gamewinner by Mullan. Jeff Fanning and Kyle Shearer-Hardy scored
for Bowdoin in the loss.
Bowdoin's Steve Messina, who finished with 24
saves, kept the game scoreless with a trio of good early
stops, including a denial of Trinity senior
forward Matthew Quigley (Pittsburgh, Pa.) on a breakaway just
two minutes into the contest. Vesprini answered with several strong
saves for the Bantams, including a pair of great short-handed
chances by Bowdoin later in the period as the game entered the
second stanza deadlocked at zero.
After pressuring the goal for a long stretch, the Bantams
finally converted when senior captain forward Adam Houli (Howell,
N.J.) found Bero between the circles for a snap-shot that beat
Messina at 9:54 for his first career tally. Moments later, Trinity
doubled their lead thanks to some good fortune as the puck bounced
off of senior forward Egor Petrov (Novokuznetsk, Russia) high into
the air, over traffic and into the goal at 11:03. Bowdoin got a
goal back on the power play before the end of the period as Harry
Matheson found Fanning with a one-timer on the back post at
16:33.
After pressuring the Trinity goal early in the third period,
Bowdoin evened the score when Jordan Lalor fed Shearer-Hardy above
the right face-off circle. Hardy ripped a high slapshot that beat
Vesprini at 4:49 to knot the game at two. Trinity scored
twice in a span of 39 seconds to take control of the game late in
the period. Mullan gave the Bantams the lead with just 7:05
remaining in the third period, skating in on the right wing and
snapping a shot top-shelf. Sophomore Jeffrey Menard (Burlington,
Mass.) increased Trinity's lead after a Bowdoin turnover in their
defensive zone with 6:26 to go.
box score
