Box Score BRUNSWICK, Maine - John McGinnis scored twice and added an assist to lead the Bowdoin College men's ice hockey team to a 5-3 win over Colby in the 203rd meeting between the schools on Friday evening at Watson Arena.
The 14th-ranked Polar Bears move to 2-0-1 on the season as they rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit before a sellout crowd of 2,300. The Mules remain winless on the season and fall to 0-2-1. For his performance, McGinnis was awarded the Pete Schuh Trophy as MVP of the annual Bowdoin-Colby game in Brunswick. The Polar Bears now lead the all-time series with the Mules 107-88-8.
Colby got on the board with a pair of early goals. Just 59 seconds into the contest, Phil Klitinios dug out the puck to Colin Reilly, who chipped it over Max Fenkell's left shoulder for a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later, Colby doubled its lead when Nat Morgan put home his own rebound on the doorstep to make it 2-0 at 8:36. The Polar Bears were able to answer before intermission when Danny Palumbo and Daniel McMullan worked the puck out of the corner. Palumbo's initial shot on Emerson Verrier was saved, but McMullan jumped on the rebound for his first career goal to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
McGinnis scored twice in the second period to give Bowdoin its first lead of the game. The senior got started at 10:04, sending a cross into traffic that deflected off a Colby stick and into the goal to knot the contest. Four minutes later, McGinnis skated into the Colby zone, intercepted an outlet pass and ripped a slapshot to the lower right past Verrier for a 3-2 advantage after two periods.
Colby evened the score 2:36 into the third period, following a sensational save by Verrier. The Mules started a transition the other way and Michael Rudolf cashed in with his first career goal to make it 3-3.
But Bowdoin responded with a pair of power play goals to seal the win. The Polar Bears displayed some nifty passing and converted a tic-tac-toe power play tally from Ryan Collier to McGinnis to Matthew Lison on the doorstep to regain the lead at just two minutes after Colby's goal. Then, nearly seven minutes later, Connor Quinn went top-shelf on Verrier to make it 5-3 Bowdoin with 8:49 to go.
Max Fenkell made the lead stand, stopping 15 of the 16 shots he faced in the final two periods to end with 24 saves on the night. Verrier made 22 stops for Colby the loss. Shots were even at 27 apiece, but Bowdoin converted on 2-4 power plays while the Mules went 0-3.
The teams will play again tomorrow in Waterville at 7:00 p.m.
