HARTFORD, Conn. – The Bowdoin men's ice hockey team defeated top seeded Trinity 5-4 to advance to the NESCAC Championship on Saturday evening. 

The Polar Bears (16-8-2) advance to their seventh NESCAC Final, while the seventh ranked Bantams' season is put on hold at 21-5-0.

John McGinnis put Bowdoin on the board with just 2:44 remaining in the first period. Collecting the puck at the blue line, McGinnis carried cross-ice to the left circle and saw his shot deflect off Benjamin Coulthard's outside skate and dribble across the goal line. 

Trinity evened the game at 1-1 under four minutes into the second frame, capitalizing on a short-handed opportunity.  Sean Orlando took the puck down the left boards with a Bowdoin defender trailing inside and went top shelf on Max Fenkell. The Polar Bears responded 41 seconds later with a power play goal from Harry Matheson. Coming down the center, Jay Livermore fed a pass left to Matheson who buried a short side tally for the 2-1 lead. Bowdoin extended its lead in the eighth minute with a wraparound goal from McGinnis. The Polar Bears scored their third straight as Chris Fenwick broke free behind the Bantams defense and skated unchallenged towards net, before going top shelf on Coulthard.

Trinity responded with a pair of goals in the final five minutes. Samuel Johnson teed up a shot from the point with Joe Horak catching a piece of it to tip the puck over Fenkell. Capitalizing on a faceoff in the Polar Bears' defensive end with 1.7 seconds remaining, Elie Vered pushed the puck back into space for a one-timer by Jim Burt. Burt's shot ricocheted off the far post as time expired, leaving Bowdoin with a slim 4-3 lead heading into the final period.

Connor Quinn scored the eventual game-winner 6:49 into the third frame. McGinnis left the puck sitting beyond the right post following a wraparound move, with Quinn skating in to finish out the play. Trinity would pull within one in the final 42 seconds off an extra-man goal from Ryan Cole. The Bantams were unable to tallying an equalizer in the final seconds, as Bowdoin escaped with a 5-4 win.

Fenkell made 34 stops for the Polar Bears, as Coulthard made 22 saves for Trinity.

Bowdoin will faceoff against Amherst tomorrow afternoon for the NESCAC Championship, beginning at 2:00 p.m.