BRUNSWICK, ME - The Amherst men's hockey team was edged at Bowdoin College, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship Tournament on Saturday evening. With the loss, the Jeffs finish the season at 6-14-5 while the Polar Bears improve to 18-3-3 and move on to the NESCAC semifinals.

Bowdoin drew first blood early in the opening period when Bill Busch took a feed from Peter Nasveschuck and blasted a shot past junior goaltender Justin Jagher (Framingham, MA). Amherst knotted the score at 1-1, 10:05 into the second period when first-year phenom Beau Kretzman (Edina, MN) weaved through a pair of Polar Bear defenders short-handed and ripped a wrister into the back of the net. Jared Porter put the hosts ahead 5:37 into the third period taking a cross-ice feed from Mike Carosi and backhanding a shot past Jagher. Moments later, Brian Shuman fired a wrister into the top corner of the net giving Bowdoin a 3-1 advantage. Jeff sophomore forward Mike Kreger (Glenview, IL) answered just five seconds later, racing into the Polar Bear defensive zone and sliding a backhander past a sprawled out Mike Healey.

Amherst applied late pressure, pulling their goalie with less than a minute remaining but Bowdoin was able to preserve the lead and will now move on to the NESCAC semifinals. Healey recorded 24 saves in net while Jagher finished with 27.