BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Bowdoin College men's ice hockey team continued its hot play by scoring three times in the third period to pull away from Williams, 4-2, on Friday evening at Watson Arena.

The Polar Bears (9-4-2, 7-2-2 NESCAC) are unbeaten in their last seven NESCAC games (6-0-1) and will host Middlebury on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The Ephs, ranked 10th in the latest Division III poll, lose for the first time since December 9 and drop to 9-2-4 (6-2-1 NESCAC).

Bowdoin controlled the play for most of the first period, out shooting Williams 14-6.  Sharp cross-ice passing set up the Polar Bears' first goal as Ollie Koo notched a power play goal with assists from Harry Matheson and Colin Downey at 9:36. Williams tied the game with less than a minute left in the first period when Evan Dugdale deflected a shot by David Jarrett past Bowdoin's Steve Messina. 

After a scoreless second period, the Polar Bears regained the lead with another power play goal. Graham Sisson redirected a feed from John McGinnis that went over the right shoulder of Williams' Purdy at 4:11. Bowdoin increased its lead to 3-1 when Tim McGarry blasted a slap shot from the blue line into the back of the net at 12:14, only to see the Williams' Greg Kitto knock home a rebound 32 seconds later to trim the lead to 3-2. 

Williams pulled Purdy with less than a minute to play and kept the pressure on the Polar Bears until Harry Matheson broke the puck out of the defensive zone and scored an empty net goal to seal the victory for the Polar Bears.

Steve Messina was strong in net for the Polar Bears with 23 saves including several big ones late in the third period.  Williams' Ryan Purdy made 35 saves in net for the Ephs. Bowdoin held a convincing 39-25 edge in shots and went 2-7 on the power play while holding the Ephs scoreless in five tries with the extra man.