After surging into first place in the NESCAC last week, the Cardinals had a disappointing weekend in Maine, losing to Colby 5-1 on Friday night and then to Bowdoin 3-2 the next afternoon. Wesleyan dropped from the top position into a second-place tie with Amherst and Colby, one point behind the new leader, Bowdoin. Middlebury, the three-time defending national champions, are fifth in the standings, just one point behind the second place teams.

Though their order is yet to be determined, these five teams will comprise the top five seeds in the NESCAC tournament when the playoffs begin on Feb. 24.

“This was definitely a tough weekend for our team,” said co-captain Will Bennett ’07. “All year it has been our goal to host a playoff game, and we are still in a great position to succeed as long as we finish the regular season on a good note this coming weekend.”

After starting off the scoring in the first period with a Taylor Evans ’07 goal off assists from Bennett and Dallas Bossort ’09, the Cards’ offense went cold and was held scoreless for the remaining 46 minutes of the game. Wesleyan held Colby scoreless until late in the second period when the Cards finally broke down defensively. The Mules then scored five times in the final 25 minutes of the game. Disappointed, the Cards looked to redeem themselves the following afternoon when they visited Bowdoin, another perennial NESCAC playoff team.

The Polar Bears struck first, however, just 4:48 into the first period. The Cards responded nicely with a power play goal from J.J. Evans ’09 with assists from Mike Dorsey ’08 and Sam Robinson ’10. Pivotal points came at the end of the first period and beginning of the second, when the Cards failed to convert on three different man-up opportunities.

Nevertheless, Wesleyan took the lead on a goal by Brenton Stafford ’08 with assists from Dorsey and Robinson with 10:23 remaining in the second period. The lead didn’t last though, as Bowdoin tied it at two less than five minutes later.

The game got aggressive at the end of the second, as both teams received simultaneous roughing penalties before Bowdoin was called for tripping and Wesleyan’s Brent Winship ’09 was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The game remained tied and intense for most of the third, until 15:26 into the final period when Bowdoin scored the game-winner off a rebound in front of the Cardinal net. With the victory on Saturday afternoon, Bowdoin improved its overall record against Wesleyan to 10-2-2.

“We had a reality check last weekend in Maine where we played two perennial playoff teams,” Evans said. “Though we didn’t come away with points, we still found ourselves in second place in the league and primed to finish near the top with our last two regular season games at home. Our team took valuable lessons of how playoff teams work and what it will take to beat them.”

The Cards finish out the regular season this weekend at home with visits from Skidmore and Castleton St. Wesleyan needs positive results in these games to secure a home playoff game and rebuild its confidence as the postseason run begins.