AMHERST, Mass. – The Amherst College men's hockey team used a pair of goals from Austin Ho and 45 saves from goalie Dave Cunningham to give the Jeffs a 4-2 victory over Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon at Orr Rink.

With the win, 14th-ranked Amherst improves to 9-2-2 overall, 5-2-0 in NESCAC action, while 10th-ranked Bowdoin moves to 7-3-2 on the season, 3-3-2 in league play.

Bowdoin controlled the pace of play in the first period firing 22 shots on target compared to nine from Amherst. At the 9:29 mark of the opening stanza, Ho registered his second goal of the season past goaltender Peter Cronin to give the Jeffs an early 1-0 lead.  At the 14:02, Bowdoin was whistled for slashing, and just three seconds into the power play, Jake Turrin blasted a shot past Cronin after Conor Brown won the faceoff to give Amherst the 2-0 advantage.  The Polar Bears offensive output finally paid off with just 22 seconds left in the period as Matthew Lison netted his eighth goal of the campaign following a tripping penalty against Amherst to set the score at 2-1 at the first intermission.

In a tightly contested second period that saw Bowdoin narrowly edge the Jeffs in shots on goal, 9-7, Amherst increased its advantage to 4-1 thanks to Brown's sixth goal of the season followed by a breakaway goal from Ho just 1:08 later.

Bowdoin continued to pressure the Amherst defense, and Zach Kokosa cut the Polar Bears' deficit in half just 23 seconds into the third stanza with his first goal of the season to set the score at 4-2. Bowdoin outshot Amherst, 16-9 in the final period, but Cunningham finished the game with 45 saves. Cronin, who played 26:03 in goal, suffered the loss and finished with nine saves. Max Fenkell entered in relief and made 12 saves in 31:58 of action.

The Polar Bears return to Watson Arena for their first home game since November 29 next Friday. Bowdoin hosts Trinity at 7:00 p.m. in a remach of last year's NESCAC Semifinals.