BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Trinity College men's ice hockey team scored twice in 39 seconds late in the third period to take a 4-2 victory over eighth-ranked Bowdoin on Friday evening. The win improves the Bantams to 9-8-3 (6-8-1 NESCAC) while the Polar Bears dip to 13-6-1 (9-6-1) with the setback.
Wesley Vesprini led the way for the Bantams with 41 saves while a pair of freshman – Larry Bero and Charlie Mullan – both scored their first collegiate goals for Trinity. Jeff Fanning and Kyle Shearer-Hardy scored for Bowdoin in the loss.
Bowdoin's Steve Messina kept the game scoreless with a trio of good early saves, including a stop of Trinity's Matthew Quigley on a breakaway just two minutes into the contest. Vesprini answered with several strong saves for the Bantams, including a pair of great shorthanded chances by Bowdoin later in the period as the game entered the second period deadlocked at zero.
After pressuring the goal for a long stretch, the Bantams finally converted when Adam Houli 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 Egor Petrov high into the air, over traffic and into the goal at 11:03. Bowdoin was able to get 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. Jeffrey Menard increased Trinity's lead after a Bowdoin turnover in their defensive zone with 6:26 to go.
Messina ended with 24 stops for the Polar Bears, who will host Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at 4:00. Trinity will travel to play at Colby at 3:00.
