The hockey team closed the books on what proved a bumpy inaugural season in the NESCAC/ECAC East Division with a 9-3 loss to Trinity at the Malden Forum on Saturday night. Overall, Tufts ended the season with a 6-17 record and a 4-15 conference mark than placed it tenth in the NESCAC.
"It would have been nice to end the season with a win, but we knew we were playing a good team," junior co-captain and defenseman Chris Martin said. "It was a rough season, and it would have been nice to get a win in the last game so we could carry it over to next year. We played well in the third period, though, so we'll at least carry that over."
Early on, the Jumbos played as if the transition to the most competitive league in Division III hockey would not faze them, grabbing two conference wins in the first two weeks of the season. But after starting out with a respectable 3-2 record, the team quickly found itself stuck in a rut that it would never fully climb out of.
"We started playing most of the powerhouses in the middle of the season," Martin said. "So we did kind of start out with an easier schedule."
For their third win, the Jumbos christened their newly built home rink - the Malden Forum - with a thrilling, come-from-behind 5-4 victory over NESCAC rival Connecticut College on Nov. 30. But that would be their last win until Jan. 12, a slide that spanned one and a half months and six games to match the program's longest losing streak in a decade.
And just after a 5-3 win against Skidmore snapped the six-game slide, the Jumbos would embark on another downward spiral. This time, the number reached eight games, as the squad was outscored 59-18 over the 25-day span.
"It's tough to describe what happened," Martin said. "We were playing some really good teams who were really quick and had been in the program for a while. And once you get blown out a few times, it gets kind of frustrating."
Despite the losing streaks and inconsistent play, there were bright spots for the Jumbos, including wins in two of their last three games to close out the season. After thumping Plymouth State on the road, 7-2, to end its eight-game slide, the team used two third period goals to spark another comeback against a NESCAC foe last Friday. This time, the victim was Wesleyan, which finished one spot ahead of Tufts in the conference standings.
"It was nice to get a NESCAC victory," Martin said. "We hadn't done that in a while. We showed that we can play with a team in this league and that we're going to be here for a while."
Come-from-behind victories were one constant for the Jumbos this year, as the squad went into the third period trailing in four of its six wins. And in each of its wins this season, Tufts held the advantage in the final frame, outscoring its opponents by a combined total of 17-6. Overall, the third period seemed to be when Tufts gelled. The team was drilled in the first two periods all along - 50-13 in the first and 57-29 in the second - but held close in the third, with opponents combining for a narrow 37-34 edge.
"Basically we don't quit," Martin said. "When we're down in the third, if we're down, we put everything on the line. I think it's a good sign."
Another bright spot for Tufts was the play of a quintet of freshman forwards - all of whom reached double digits in points for the season. In fact, freshmen John Hurd (25 points), Gino Rotondi (21), and Shawn Sullivan (20), ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively, on the team's scoring list. Two more freshmen, Brandon Hays (11) and Matt Kniaz (10), ended up seventh and eighth.
"[The experience] they got this year is so important," Martin said. "They know what the league is like now. They know how quick it is, and they won't be as tentative as they were this year. They have nothing to lose; they know the hockey."
Junior forward and co-captain Mike Carceo led the team in scoring with 39 points (14g, 25a), while recording his 100th career point on Jan. 25. Carceo also ranked fourth in the NESCAC in scoring, and lead the Jumbos with six power play goals. Sophomore Pat Byrne was fifth in scoring with 16 points (5g, 11a) and Martin ranked sixth (5-8-13).
Sophomore Ben Crapser and senior Ian Kell split the goaltending duties, with Crapser finishing with a 3-8-0 record and Kell at 3-9-0. Crapser also led the team in save percentage (.847) and goals against average (6.14). For his career, Crapser now has 40 starts in just two years to along with an 18-14-1 career record.
"For any team, the goalie is very imporant," Martin said. "[Crapser] faced a lot of shots this year and did very well with the amount that he faced. Just knowing that we have that on our shoulder next year is a big plus."
In all, the Jumbos will return 21 players next year. Combine that with a year of NESCAC/ECAC East experience under their belt, and the future looks much brighter than the dark months of this winter.
"We're going to be a more competitive team in the league next year," Martin said. "We're going to give the good teams better games than we did this year. It's going to be fun to see where end up in the standings. I think it's going to be a good year."
@s:Better days likely ahead for Jumbos
