The hockey team had a rough time last year, when it went 6-17 and finished at the bottom of the standings in its first seasons of play in the ESCAC East Conference. This year, the team looks to return to their 2000-2001 form, when it dominated the ECAC Northeast with a 15-1-1 record.
But the Jumbos now face some of the strongest competition in the country, including ESCAC opponents Middlebury and Norwich State, winners of six of the past seven NCAA Div. III Championships.
The men, who graduated only three seniors from last season, return all five of their top scorers this year along with an influx of freshmen they anticipate will help improve their attack.
"We expected to do better last year, but we understood where we stood," senior co-captain Chris Martin said. "We feel a lot better this time, we've brought in some good freshmen."
A strong core of juniors returns to the team, including last season's leading scorer senior co-captain Mike Carceo, who finished last season with 39 points. Second-leading scorer John Hurd, who had 25 points of his own last season, also returns to the starting line. Along with these veterans, the Jumbos look to include freshman Matt McCarthy, who should be a large help up front for the team.
The Jumbos are hopeful that this combination of players will lead it to improvement.
"We want to establish ourselves at the middle of the pack instead of towards the end," Martin said.
To do so, the Jumbos still face several challenges. With a stronger class of competition facing the team in their new conference, the Jumbos are aware of the changes they too must make with their game.
"The speed of the game has changed and we need to make that transition as well," Martin said.
Despite the hockey team's inability to keep up with their competition last season, the Jumbos did score a few wins over tough opponents, including Wesleyan and Skidmore. Yet the Jumbos struggled against last year's premiere league performers , as they suffered 0-10 and 2-10 losses to both Middlebury and Norwich State.
While the Jumbos do not enter the season with improbable hopes to win the division, they are striving to use the 2002-2003 season to begin building a successful program within their new division. With the returning core of starters and the new talent, the team's hopes are high.
"We have definitely improved over these first few practices," Martin said.
Whether the improvement is enough to help the Jumbos reach their season's goals is yet to be seen. The team's first test comes this weekend when it faces St. Michaels and Norwich college on the road.
More from The Tufts Daily
Trending
The Print Edition
