It has been a very interesting October for the SRJC Hockey Team.

After going 3-0 to start the season, the Polar Bears have dropped four straight games including two at Snoopy’s Home Ice to Division III teams, a first in recent club history. Luckily for the team, SRJC played in Idaho this past weekend, going 2-1 in three games.

The team had suffered two losses in Colorado and a cancelled match against Stanford University before coming home to Snoopy’s Oct. 13 to face UC Davis. SRJC hoped to feed off the high-energy atmosphere of the home rink but were sluggish to start and lacked a cohesive strategy.

Despite their struggles, a resilient Polar Bears team managed to tie the game at seven when forward Josiah Nikkel scored his third goal of the night with a minute and a half to go in the game. But with 14.2 seconds left on the clock Davis tipped in a shot to take the game 8-7.

“This game was not the typical SRJC hockey game,” said Polar Bears forward John Hutton. “We played below our instensity level and let Davis score early. We came back but never caught up.”

Armed with pink sticks in support of the team’s Breast Cancer Awareness Night, the Polar Bears took the ice Oct. 20 but the same misfortunes awaited. SRJC faced its American Collegiate Hockey Association rival Santa Clara University, a team the Polar Bears have not seen since a 9-3 win in 2010.

From the moment the puck dropped both teams looked lost, but Santa Clara managed to pull it together long enough to score the first goal of the night. A  minute later Polar Bears forward John Keshishian tied it up with an assist by Nikkel, who followed it up with a goal of his own to give the Polar Bears a 2-1 edge.

Unfortunately, that was the only lead SRJC would have all game. Santa Clara tied it up soon after and kept adding on all night. Keshishian and Nikkel added two more goals to the Polar Bears score, but it was not enough. Santa Clara won the game 7-4.

“Santa Clara’s goalie played remarkably, “ Hutton said of the Broncos player, one of two female players on the team. Nikkel’s assist on Keshishian’s goal brought his point total up to 20. The freshman forward has been a good addition to this Polar Bears team, putting up points in six of the first seven games and leading a generally struggling SRJC team this last month of play.

The Polar Bears were determined to end October better than the team had started with three games in Idaho Oct. 26-29.

Hoping for a surge of energy, SRJC took the ice Oct. 26 against Brigham Young University. The Polar Bears managed to garner a 5-4 win with a goal by defenseman Matt Schaben. “After last week’s loss I had to do something to change my game. So I cut my hair, shaved my beard and clipped my nails to turn our luck around. Seemed to work,” Schaben said. “Scoring the game winner was sweet but getting the win was the most important part.”

The next game was also another 5-4 win for SRJC. The team faced a hard- hitting Boise State University team. Boise has only lost two games so far this season and are a Division II club.

But the Polar Bears came together and pulled out a confident win.

The team’s last game in Idaho was against the Western Washington University and the team ended its consecutive win streak. But the team has seemed to turn around its game and things look brighter for the next month of play.

The Polar Bears will take on Fresno State in a two-game series Nov. 2-3 at Snoopy’s in Santa Rosa. SRJC will also host its second annual Wine Country Collegiate Classic Nov. 8-10 featuring Sacramento State University, Metro State University at Denver and Northern Arizona University.