"Everything that has happened this season means nothing right now," said Erik DiNardo '03. "We are in the playoffs and are playing a good team, but there's no team in the country that we can't beat."
The Jeffs faced a pair of tough foes in their fight to continue their season, starting off with Bowdoin College on Friday night. The Polar Bears were in a slight slump entering the game, as they had dropped their previous two matches, their only blemishes on what had been an undefeated season. But the Bears were able to break out of their slump, jumping all over the Jeffs in the early-going.
The Bears scored a trio of goals in each of the first two periods before the Jeffs fought back in the third period. Dave Moore '02 started the scoring for the Jeffs two minutes into the third period when he notched his first tally of the year. Ten minutes later, the Jeffs inched a little closer with a goal by Scott Aldrich '05, but this was as close as the Jeffs would come.
Bowdoin added two more goal in the final minutes of the game and the Jeffs ended up on the wrong side of an 8-2 score.
When Connecticut College lost their game on Friday night to Trinity, the Jeffs secured the final berth in the conference tournament.
On Saturday afternoon the Jeffs faced Colby College and, again, they were unable to pull out a victory against a Maine school.
The White Mules started off the scoring with just under 10 minutes to play in the first period, but the Jeffs were able to answer with the next goal. On a power play just four minutes into the second period, the Jeffs were able to knot the score when Beau Kretzman '05 stuffed the puck past the Colby goalie.
But, as has been the case for much of the season, the Jeffs were unable to pull out the victory, as the Mules tallied the next three goals to win the game, 4-1.
With the regular season now over and the Jeffs carrying a 6-13-5 record, the Jeffs will make a return trip to Maine to take on Bowdoin in the first round of the tournament. With Middlebury College securing the first seed, a bye in the first round and home ice throughout the tournament, Bowdoin fell into the second slot in the tourney.
"This past weekend, although we lost, we plan on using it as a learning experience for next weekend," said DiNardo. "There are parts of Bowdoin's game which we'll have to concentrate on as the week passes, but we need to focus more on our own game and have it at its best come Saturday."
Kretzman finished the regular season as the Jeffs top scorer, with 43 points, which was good for second in the conference and he led all NESCAC players with 24 goals. Bob Miele '02 finished the season second on the Jeffs with 27 points, on 13 goals and 14 assists and he finished his regular season career with 105 points.