"It was understood that both Bowdoin and Colby are two of the better teams in this league and we knew that it was going to be one of our more difficult weekends," said defenseman Rylan Burns '09.
Friday night's game saw the Jeffs travel to 14th-ranked Bowdoin, where Amherst met a Polar Bear squad that hadn't won in four games. Bowdoin struck first when Adam Dann scored off passes from John Landry and Steven Thompson late in the opening session. The Jeffs answered back when center A.J. Greco '06 fired home his team-leading ninth score of the season on the powerplay with assists by forward Kyle Schoppel '08 and Burns. The game wouldn't remain tied for long as Polar Bear Sebastien Belanger tucked home the go-ahead score from Matt Roy. Halfway through the final frame Bowdoin padded its lead when Mike Collins scored the eventual game winner.
Amherst's Andrew Schremp '08 got one back less than a minute later off helpers from Brandon Zangel '07 and senior captain Jack Greeley '06, but a late empty-netter by Landry quelled the Jeffs' comeback hopes. Josh Fillman '07 played another solid game in goal, finishing with a game-high 28 saves while Bowdoin's George Papachristopoulos turned aside 25 Amherst attempts.
Looking to rebound, Amherst traveled to Waterville, Me. where they met a determined Colby squad looking to make its move on the Jeffs in the NESCAC standings. Colby's Ryan Chrenek scored early for the Mules with Greg Osborne and Patrick Rutherford tallying assists. Before the Jeffs could find the back of the net, the Mules doubled their advantage when Arthur Fritch scored with help from Adam Carlson and Matt Ahern. Amherst forward Erik Lund '07 stayed hot, scoring his third goal in four games with helpers from Schoppel and Shane Lennox '09 to cut Colby's lead in half.
That was all the offense Amherst could muster, however, as Colby's leading scorer T.J. Kelly scored two of the Mules' next three goals, leading Colby to a convincing 5-1 win. Fillman collected 22 saves for Amherst while Colby's Ben Grandjean made 29 saves.
"We have to become tougher mentally on the road and be able to bring the same excitement and level of play that we enjoy when we are in our own barn," said Burns. "We need to raise our intensity and preparation for gametime starting this weekend, [and] that will carry over into playoffs. After playing Bowdoin and Colby this weekend, our team realizes when we play at the top of our game we are one of the top teams in this league. We are more than capable of making a long playoff run this year."
Here's how things stand heading into the crucial final four conference games: Amherst is in third place behind top-ranked Middlebury and Williams, and just ahead of Bowdoin and Colby. Amherst needs to win one of their last two regular-season conference games to lock-up a home game in the NESCAC tournament. Amherst returns to Orr Rink Friday at 7 p.m. against New England College, and then battles St. Anslem on senior day at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The following weekend Amherst travels to Williams and Middlebury Colleges before starting its postseason march on Feb. 25.
NESCAC Notes
Williams' Kevin Child leads the conference in scoring, while Amherst's Sean Ellis is 15th. All seven of Amherst's Andrew Schremp's goals have been against conference opponents. The Jeffs still boast the league's top penalty-killing unit and combined special teams. Middlebury dropped its first game of the season to Norwich University 4-3 in OT. Bowdoin and Colby both travel to Trinity and Wesleyan this weekend before finishing with Norwich and St. Michaels in what will certainly be a wild two-week stretch of NESCAC hockey.