GORHAM, Maine -- The Bowdoin College men's ice hockey team erupted for four goals in the third period to erase a one-goal deficit and defeat the University of Southern Maine 4-1 in a non-conference game Tuesday evening at the USM Ice Arena.

            The victory snapped a two-game losing skid for the nationally ranked Polar Bears, and improved their overall mark to 7-2-1.  The Huskies dropped to 1-9-0 on the season.

            Down 1-0 heading into the third period, the Polar Bears quickly took advantage of their third power play of the game to tie the score.  Rookie Matt Melanson (Wakefield, Mass.) got his stick on a shot taken from the point by senior Ryan Collier (Pointe Claire, Que.) to redirect the puck past USM rookie goalie Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.) at 2:21 for his first career goal.

            Junior Chris Fenwick (Quispamsis, N.B.) gave the visitors the lead for good at 3:49 with the first of his two goals as he redirected a shot by sophomore John-Alexander Kourkoulis (Saint-Laurent, Que.) through a screen in front Shapiro.

            Rookie Matthew Lison (Venetia, Pa.), who picked up the second assist on the Melanson goal, made it 3-1 at 5:50 with his sixth marker of the season, and Fenwick added another insurance goal at 10:35, again redirecting a shot from Kourkoulis.

            Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead in the first period when rookie John Waghorne (Wheaton, Ill.) scored his first career goal from the left point.  Senior Brad McGovern (Haverhill, Mass.) dug the puck out of the right wing corner and pushed a pass back to sophomore Cole Klippenstein who fired a cross-ice pass to Waghorne.

            Shapiro protected the one-goal lead through the second period as Bowdoin mounted relentless pressure on the rookie goalie.  Bowdoin out shot USM 16-4 in the stanza, but came up empty as Shapiro was brilliant.

            Bowdoin finished the game out shooting Southern Maine 32-16.  Bowdoin senior goalie Max Fenkell (Meadowbrook, Pa.) recorded 15 saves to pick up his fifth win of the season.  Shapiro finished the night with 28 saves.

            Southern Maine returns to action on January 2-3 playing in the Lake Placid Tournament.  Bowdoin is off until January 9 when it travels to Hamilton College. 

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