Two old rivals square off in this series, with more on the line than probably any time in their storied past.<\/p>\n
“The tradition goes back so far,” said Bowdoin head coach Terry Meagher. “It means a lot. The players today might not know of all the tradition, but it’s special to me.”<\/p>\n
While Norwich rolled to an ECAC East title and NCAA automatic berth with a 10-1 demolition of MCLA last weekend, Meagher’s Polar Bears were upset by Trinity in the NESCAC semifinals and had to wait to see if they’d get one of the two at-large bids available.<\/p>\n
What was the wait like for Bowdoin, which opened the season 16-0-3 but is just 2-4 since then?<\/p>\n
“We knew we were going to be considered,” Meagher said. “We were one of probably four or five teams with a decent chance.”<\/p>\n
After the semifinal loss, Bowdoin went into the hopper with Trinity, Oswego, Lebanon Valley and Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Pointers were the closest to Bowdoin in the selection criteria, but the Polar Bears came out on top.<\/p>\n
“We had a pretty good year, so we knew we had a chance,” said Meagher. “The kids weren’t nervous. They were pretty excited waiting for the news that we’d gotten in.”<\/p>\n
This is Bowdoin’s second NCAA appearance. The Polar Bears were swept in the quarterfinals by Wisconsin-River Falls in 1996.<\/p>\n
This time around, the opponent is more familiar — the Cadets have been on the Polar Bears’ schedule for decades. This season, Bowdoin topped Norwich 3-1 back on Feb. 1.<\/p>\n
“We really respect them,” said Meagher. “They’re one of the best teams we’ve faced all year.”<\/p>\n
Norwich outshot Bowdoin 29-19, but could solve netminder Mike Healey just once. Healey, a sophomore from Hamden, Conn., is ninth in Division III in GAA (2.00) and 12th in save percentage (91.7%). His counterpart, freshman Kevin Shieve, is fourth in GAA (1.65) and ninth in save percentage (92.5).<\/p>\n
This time, the teams will square off at Kreitzberg Arena, on its larger (200×90) ice surface.<\/p>\n
“That always presents a challenge,” said Meagher. “Playing on the bigger sheets means you have to make some adjustments.<\/p>\n
“But we’re up to the challenge,” he added.<\/p>\n
“It’s going to be a fun weekend.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bowdoin had to sweat it out until receiving an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. Now that it’s there, it has to sweat out RIT, as Chris Lerch<\/b> reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n