Junior forward Alex Muse netted a power-play goal in Friday's 4-2 win over Bowdoin
Men's Hockey wins fourth straight
New England College’s Jarkko Leppanen (Tampere, Finland) netted a goal and dished out two assists leading the Pilgrims past the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears 4-2 Friday night in Henniker. With the win the Pilgrims improves to 8-2-0 overall and remain undefeated at home. The loss drops the Polar Bears to 6-3-1 on the season.
Bowdoin would not waste much time getting on the board as Jeff Fanning (Billerica, Mass.) would rebound in a shot from Leland Fidler (Waltham, Mass.) just 3:54 into the opening period giving the Polar Bears the 1-0 lead. Bowdoin would control much of the offense in the first period out shooting NEC 19-1 but the Pilgrims would get on the board as Alex Muse (Lynnfield, Mass.) would net a power-play goal at the 12:43 mark.
The Pilgrims would grab the 2-1 lead early in the second period as Leppanen would score a short-handed goal just 26 seconds in. Bowdoin would respond as Brendan Reich (Montvale, N.J.) would chip in a shot from Mike Corbelle (Byfield, Mass.) at the 9:42 mark tying the game at 2-2.
The two teams would head into the final period with the game notched at 2-2 but NEC would connect on another short-handed goal, as Dylan Exton (Calgary, Alberta) would score his fourth goal of the season assisted by Leppanen and Per Thunberg (Likoping, Sweden) 7:24 into the period. Bowdoin would continue to outshoot NEC holding the 9-7 edge in shots in the final period but the Pilgrims would tack in a late empty-netter edging the Polar Bears 4-2.
Picking up the win in net for the Pilgrims was Aaron Harvey (Milford, Nova Scotia) who finished with 31 saves. In goal for the Polar Bears was Richeard Nerland (Calgary, Alberta) who finished with 18 saves on the evening.
