BRUNSWICK, Maine –Nick Craven scored a pair of goals to lead the Wesleyan University men's ice hockey team to a 6-3 win over Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon at Sidney J. Watson Arena. The loss is the fourth in the last five games for the eighth-ranked Polar Bears (13-7-1, 9-7-1 NESCAC) while the Cardinals improve to 8-9-3 (7-8-1 NESCAC).

In addition to Craven's goals, Wesleyan received a goal and two assists from Keith Buehler and 28 saves from Matt Hadge. Bowdoin got a goal and an assist from Brendan Reich in the loss.

Reich got Bowdoin on the board first just 4:45 into the game as he tucked a shot inside the right post to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Wesleyan evened the score two minutes later on a 4x3 power play when Adam Kaiser's shot was redirected in front by Craven and slipped past Richard Nerland at 7:06.

Wesleyan took the lead midway through the second frame when a 2x1 rush resulted in Salah banging home a rebound off a Buehler shot to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage at 8:53. Kaiser increased the Cardinal lead at 13:11, taking a centering feed from Salah and depositing it for a 3-1 lead.  Bowdoin was able to cut into the lead late in the frame, as Jordan Lalor pounced on a rebound at 16:44, only to see the Cardinals respond 23 seconds later when Buehler skated in alone and backhanded a top-shelf goal past Nerland to give the visitors a 4-2 lead after two periods.

The Cardinals pushed their lead to three goals after a Bowdoin turnover in the defensive zone as Craven took a back-post feed from Brett Bandazian at 2:20 of the third. Colin Downey scored a late goal for Bowdoin to trim the lead to two goals before Wesleyan's Micah Ehiorobo added an empty-netter to seal the win.

Richard Nerland made 27 saves in the loss for Bowdoin, who went 1-5 on the power play.