MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – A six-game unbeaten streak came to an end for the Wesleyan men's ice hockey team as the Cardinals suffered a 4-1 home loss to Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (10-9-3, 8-5-3 NESCAC) are still in good standing in the NESCAC leaderboard, currently sitting in third place heading into a home-and-home in the last weekend of the regular season against Trinity who is second in the league. Bowdoin (6-9-4, 6-7-3 NESCAC) picked up a much-needed win, after coming in having gone winless over their four games prior to today.
 
Wesleyan trailed after the first period for the second straight game, allowing a late goal as Bowdoin capitalized on a miscue behind the Cardinal net. After mishandling a dump-in behind the Wesleyan net, the puck came to Jack Studley who spotted Chris Brown open in front, making no mistake on the finish.
 
The Cardinals answered back midway through the second period as Wesleyan hemmed in Bowdoin for an extended stay in the Polar Bears' defensive zone. Owen Sweet '25 won the puck along the near boards, sent a pass to Jake Lachance '23 who quickly back-passed to Matt Zandi '21, G'22 at the point. With a Polar Bear hard charging at the Cardinal defenseman, Zandi wound up a writer that made its way past an unsuspecting Alex Kozic in the Bowdoin goal to tie the score at 1-1.
 
Just over three minutes later, however, Bowdoin retook the lead as Brown crossed into the Wesleyan zone, deeking past a couple Cardinal skaters before his shot from the slot was blocked. Joe Alexander skated onto the loose puck and ripped a shot through traffic that found its way to the back of the net.
 
Bowdoin preserved their one-goal lead with disciplined hockey, taking no penalties until there was only a few seconds remaining while Kozic in net was outstanding, making 11 of his 30 saves in the third period alone. The insurance marker came late as Lachance wound up for a slap shot off a Wesleyan faceoff win in the Bowdoin defensive zone. The shot was blocked by Brown and the puck landed right in his stride as Brown came in on a breakaway and scored to give the Polar Bears a late 3-1 lead.
 
Brown added an empty netter with just over two minutes left, giving him three goals for a hat trick. In addition to his assist on the Alexander goal, Brown either scored or assisted on all four Bowdoin goals in the Polar Bear victory
 
Wesleyan looks to rebound with a home-and-home next weekend against Trinity. The two sides will meet on Friday at 7 PM in Middletown and again on Saturday at 4 PM from Hartford.