After a successful January that included eight wins and two ties, the Amherst men’s ice hockey team suffered two in-conference losses to start the month of February. These defeats came at the hands of Colby and Bowdoin, two foes that the purple and white had previously bested at home.

On Friday, Feb. 3, Amherst travelled to Bowdoin in hopes of recreating their earlier 7-3 dismantling of the Polar Bears, one of the team’s most impressive offensive showings of the season. However, the purple and white could not match their earlier success, and the first period ended scoreless. Eight seconds into the second, Bowdoin’s Cody Todesco then opened up the scoring. Pouncing on a puck in the slot after a string of shots blocked by Amherst, Todesco fired home over the pad of purple and white goalie Connor Girard ’18.

Captain Austin Ho ’17 was able to respond before the horn blew on the second, capitalizing on a pass by Max Roche ’19 to knot the game at one going into the locker room. With the next tally likely to be vital, each team scrapped for the edge, with the Polar Bears ultimately coming up with the game-winning goal with 12:55 left to play. Bowdoin then extended their lead to 3-1 with an insurance goal through Todesco, and Amherst could not come back.

The next day, the purple and white returned to the ice, this time in Waterville to face a Colby team they had beaten 3-2 almost exactly one month prior. Unfortunately, Colby emerged victorious in the game 5-2, thanks to stellar third period play. The Mules took the lead twice in the first period, but Amherst fought back both times with goals from Joey Lupo ’20 and David White ’18. White’s goal came on an Amherst power play with only 13 seconds left in the stanza.

The purple and white then played a sloppy second period, taking four penalties, but successfully killed off each Colby power play, including a 5-on-3. The two teams ended the period with the score still knotted at 2-2. The Mules emerged from the second intermission energized, scoring three goals in the final period. Amherst’s lack of discipline ultimately cost them, with two of Colby’s third period goals coming on the power play.

The purple and white look to get its season back on track this Friday, Feb. 10, when it travels to Tufts to take on the Bantams, a team Amherst had dominated 4-1 earlier this year.