No. 4 ranked Polar Bears defeat No. 14 Spartans, 3-2

RUTLAND, Vt. – Bowdoin scored just one minute and 20 seconds into the contest and held on for an eventual 3-2 victory over Castleton in ECAC East/NESCAC crossover action at Spartan Arena on Saturday evening.

Bowdoin, ranked fourth in the latest USCHO.com NCAA Division III poll, improves to 4-1-0 overall/3-1-0 conference. The Spartans, ranked 14th overall, fall to 4-2-0 overall and 2-2-0 in conference play.
Senior forward Jeff Fanning (Billerica, Mass.) jumpstarted the Polar Bears offense barely a minute into the game snapping a wrist shot past Castleton goaltender Seth McNary (Woburn, Mass.) into the top right corner of the net for a 1-0 advantage.

On the penalty kill, senior defenseman Kyle Hanson (Calgary, Alb.) gave Bowdoin a 2-0 lead at 10:48 of the first stealing the puck at Castleton’s blue-line and firing a laser of a wrist shot into the top right corner behind McNary.

Aaron O’Callahan (Glencoe, Ill.) pushed the Polar Bears ahead 3-0 at 7:19 of the second period with a one-timer from the blue-line over the blocker of Spartans’ goaltender Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) for his second marker of the season. Rob MacGregor (Collegeville, Pa.) assisted on the score.

Thirty five seconds later, Castleton responded right back as sophomore forward Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.) tallied his third goal of the season beating Richard Nerland (Calgary, Alb.) blocker side to make the score 3-1. Stuart Stefan (Delhi, Ont.) and Dru Douglas (Whitby, Ont.) assisted on the goal.

Seconds before the second period ended (19:52), senior captain Lindsay Gullett (Wawanesa, Man.) cut the deficit to 3-2 on the power play stuffing home a loose puck in front of the crease behind Nerland.

In the third, the Spartans appeared to tie the game at 3-3 only 40 seconds into the period as Harris put back his own rebound past Nerland but the officials waved off the would-be game tying goal ruling that the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line.

Nerland was the difference in net for Bowdoing making 36 saves on the evening. McNary turned away four shots while Cinotti made 15 saves.

Castleton returns to action on Friday, December 10 at Spartan Arena against Skidmore at 7:00 p.m.