For the hockey team, the inaugural year of NESCAC play has as expected proven more difficult than the less-competitive schedules of years past. As the team approaches the season's midpoint, it sits in the tenth and final position of the conference, with a record of 3-6 (4-8 overall).
The Jumbos are hoping, however, that their come-from-behind victory over Skidmore College last weekend - also their first victory in a month - will signal a resurgence.
"The toughest part of our season is almost in the past," junior tri-captain Mike Carceo said. "We're coming out of it right now, playing better and hoping to get into the playoffs."
Over the winter break, the team faced some tough conference competition, including Williams, St. Anselm, and nationally-ranked Middlebury. It gave up 42 goals in six games during the slide, while only scoring 18 of its own.
Still, the Jumbos are far from disheartened. "We're not discouraged in any way," coach Brian Murphy said. "We've continued to practice hard and have only suffered a couple of real discouraging losses. We won't let that keep us from what we want to accomplish, which is to improve."
One bright spot for the squad throughout the month's turmoil was the play of senior goaltender Ian Kell. In nine games this season, he's clocked 443 total minutes, and has a saving percentage of .868 and a 4.87 GAA. He stood strong between the pipes last weekend, making 29 saves, including 13 in the second period against Skidmore.
"He's played well in net and been doing a good job for us there," Murphy said. "Our defense is doing a good job of getting the puck out."
Carceo also praised his teammates' recent performance. "He's just completely on his game," he said. "Ian's playing as well as he did before he took time off and is really playing with confidence."
Kell and the Jumbos will get a lighter schedule towards the end of the season, but this weekend brings more potentially problematic opponents. Tufts will travel to Maine to faced top-notch Bowdoin and Colby.
On Friday, the team squares off against the Polar Bears, who currently rank second in the NESCAC and boast a record of 6-0-3. That will be followed by a match against the fifth-place White Mules on Saturday night. Colby has lost only to Williams and top-ranked Middlebury
"We don't go up there pretending that we're as talented as they are," coach Brian Murphy said. "We're going to do other things to compensate for that, and I think that we'll play well."
While the Maine squads boast dominating, aggressive offenses, the Jumbos plan to counterattack with an equally strong defense. "We're going to try and slow down defensively to shut down their offense and stay on the puck at all times," Carceo said.
Though the Jumbos are sitting in the cellar, they still have a legitimate chance at earning a playoff berth. The squads that currently occupy the bottom slots of NESCAC- Amherst, Wesleyan, Conn. College - all have yet to play the most competitive NESCAC teams.
"We're not completely out of the playoffs yet," Murphy said. "We haven't played Amherst and Wesleyan yet, both of which we can beat. We've played the 6 toughest teams on the schedule so far. The toughest part of our season is behind us, particularly after this weekend. We certainly still have something to play for."
In fact, Tufts has yet to play six NESCAC teams, and could feasibly nab the number seven spot in the league - good for a playoff spot. "In order to accomplish this, we still need to be more consistent," Murphy said.
The team's freshmen, who fell into a rut over break after a strong start, may be the key. Three of the squad's top five scorers are freshmen - John Hurd (fourth, 14 points), Gino Rotondi (fourth, 14 points), and Shawn Sullivan (fifth, 12 points). They'll be tested this weekend, against tough competition and in front of considerably large crowds.
The puck will drop at 7 p.m. Friday night and the Jumbos will return to the ice Saturday at 4 p.m.
