BRUNSWICK

The Bowdoin College women’s ice hockey team looks to build on last year’s success and work towards the next step.

In the 2017 New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament, the sixth-seeded Polar Bears defeated No. 3 Hamilton, 1-0 in double-overtime, the longest game in program history (94 minutes) to reach the semifinals. Bowdoin fell to eventual NESCAC Champions and top-seeded Middlebury, 4-1, finishing 13-10-4.

Bowdoin opens the year tonight at home against Colby. The Polar Bears were 1-0-1 against the Mules last year, including a 3-0 win at Watson Arena. They will travel to Waterville to play their rivals on Saturday in the home-and-home series.

A former two-sport standout while a student athlete at Bowdoin, head coach Marissa O’Neil returns for her eighth campaign at the helm for the Polar Bears. O’Neil helped Bowdoin win a pair of NESCAC Championships and earn four NCAA Tournament appearances as a player.

“Our chemistry looks great at practice, we’re excited to start the season,” said O’Neil.

After opening the 2016- 2017 season with a 4-1-2 record, the Polar Bears continued to roll through the first half of January, including a historic 3-0 win over Connecticut College last January in the first-ever NESCAC women’s ice hockey game played outside at Fenway Park in Boston.

Bowdoin returns its top seven scorers from a year ago, including All-NESCAC honoree Julie Dachille, who led the team with 11 goals and chipped in with seven assists. The senior scored five of her goals in conference play and has tallied 26 scores during her first three years at the college. Brooke Solomon and Second Team All-NESCAC Brigit Bergin return after both dishing out a team-leading nine assists last season.

“Our core of forwards return and the progression of our younger players, we look to make our offense better,” said O’Neil. “Having Julie, Marissa (Fichter) and Brooke gives us great two-way hockey players, playing defense, but still creating offense on the other end of the ice.”

Junior Kerri St. Denis of Harpswell stepped into net for the Polar Bears last season and posted a .954 save percentage and 1.28 goals against average in 18 games. St. Denis was second in the league for save percentage and third in goals against, earning All-NESCAC and All-Region honors during her sophomore campaign. Second-year Sophia Lattanzio will also see time in net. Lattanzio was in net in 2016-2017 for four wins, including the victory over Colby. Incoming freshman Madeline Carlson will add depth to the goalie position.

The team returns home for three events in December, including games against UMass-Boston (Dec. 1), USM (Dec. 5), and Johnson & Wales (Dec. 9). Bowdoin hits the road to begin 2018 with a league weekend at Williams before hosting eighth-ranked Amherst (Jan. 12-13). The Polar Bears play on the road for a key matchup against sixth-ranked Middlebury (Jan. 19-20) before returning home for back-to-back weekends against Wesleyan (Jan. 26-27) and Hamilton (Feb. 2-3).

Bowdoin closes out the regular season at home against Trinity on February 16-17.

“There is so much parity in our league,” said O’Neil. “Our league is extremely challenging, each week we have to prepare for our conference games like it’s a playoff game.:

As for Friday night against Colby.

“We’re ready to hit the ice and play someone else other than scrimmaging ourselves,” added O’Neil.

Men’s team

Losing in the NESCAC quarterfinals as a No. 8 seed with an 8-16-1 record, the men’s hockey team plans to improve and take another step forward from last season.

According to coach Jamie Dumont, the start of the season brings a “breath of fresh air” to the team. The Polar Bears will depend on their senior leadership as coach Dumont points out.

“We have a really good senior group. They have really good focus and strong leadership,” said Dumont.

While the Polar Bears return all but one of their forwards and will boast experience up front, they are young in the back, expecting to play four or five freshmen and sophomores in various lines.

“We have some younger players that are going to be able to step right in and help us out,” said Dumont.

Bowdoin returns six of its top seven goal scorers from last year, pacing an offense that ranked third in the NESCAC. Junior Cody Todesco led the way for the second consecutive year with 15 goals and 10 assists. In his rookie season, Thomas Dunleavy ranked second for the Polar Bears with 11 goals while Matthew Lison dished out a team-best 17 assists.

Peter Cronin will return to man the net. The senior played in 17 games last season, registering 484 saves (.900 save percentage) while posting a 3.38 goals against average and posting a pair of shutouts.

After two weeks of playing against the same colors, Bowdoin eagerly welcomes the start of the season.

“We don’t get to scrimmage per conference rules so we’re ready to go. Williams is in the same boat this weekend too,” said Dumont. “It’s sort of baptism by fire,” referring to opening the season with a conference game without playing any preseason games.

The schedule sees Bowdoin on the road for the first two games, opening with a league weekend at Williams and Middlebury. Bowdoin will begin its home campaign with a non-conference game against the University of New England next Tuesday (Nov. 21). The Polar Bears return from Thanksgiving break to host day two of the Colby/Bowdoin Classic on Sunday,  Nov.26,  facing off against 15th-ranked UMass-Boston. The Polar Bears will host Colby on (Dec. 2), followed by Tufts (Dec. 8) and Connecticut College (Dec. 9) to close out the semester.

The Polar Bears open 2018 at home against Amherst on January 5th and 8th ranked Hamilton (Jan. 6) before hitting the road for three straight games.

Bowdoin only plays a pair of home games in February with a league weekend against Wesleyan (Feb. 10) and 7th-ranked Trinity (Feb. 11).

Bowdoin will then look for the playoffs.

“You always want to extend your season by one game, hopefully more,” said Dumont. “That means we’re in the postseason.”

Dumont expresses anyone in the league can win on any given night. He looks for his team to get better as the year goes on and will hopefully peak in January and February.

“We want this senior class to go out in a good way,” added Dumont. “Let’s drop the puck!”