Hockey team continues to struggle

After rolling to three consecutive wins upon its return from winter break, the hockey team is now struggling through a four game winless streak. After they were embarrassed by Bowdoin 12-2 last Friday, the Jumbos fought a proven Colby team to a 3-3 tie on Saturday. Such a performance as in the latter game will be necessary as the team heads into this weekend's home games with Salem State and Southern Maine.

Both these games are opportunities for redemption for the squad. Last year, en route to their 6-17 record, the Jumbos lost at Salem State 11-3 and the next day, at Southern Maine, 9-3. While there is no question that this year's team is better, those losses still hang over their heads.

"We have a lot to prove," sophomore forward John Hurd said. "These were two of our worst games last year. Both teams took it to us, and we just played horribly."

As improved as the Jumbos are, two wins this weekend are not a guarantee. Salem State comes into Friday night's game with a solid 8-5-2 record. While it did lose to Williams, a team that Tufts beat, it defeated national powers Bowdoin and Middlebury, both squads that Tufts had trouble with in losses.

The Vikings are led by senior defenseman Nick Stauder, who leads his team in points with 21 and has the most points in ECAC East for defensemen. The rest of the defense has proven decent as well, and has given up 4.33 goals per game. Senior goalie Kaleb Christenson has been effective as well.

At forward, sophomore Paul Knight and junior Mike Viens forge the way for a scoring offense that is 3rd in the ECAC East and 2nd in scoring on the power play.

"Salem State is a very good team that can put the puck in the net if they get the opportunity," coach Brian Murphy said. "We have to respect them."

Whatever happens Friday night, Tufts won't have much time to recover as Southern Maine rolls into Malden Arena for a 2:00 Saturday tilt. While they hold a 5-11 record, the Huskies have lost some close games and are a team that cannot be taken lightly. At forward, they rely on junior Chad Lause and freshman Franco Narcisi, who is 3rd in scoring among freshman in the ECAC East with 18 points. At defense, sophomore John Lounsbury leads the crew, and the team's goaltender by committee system is headed up by junior J.R. Wappel and sophomore Matt Collaton.

While the Huskies are not especially good in any one area, they have proven that they are sufficient enough to compete. This is evidenced by their most recent game, a hard fought 9-8 overtime loss to a strong Babson team.

"Both of these teams we'll see this weekend are quality teams," junior forward Pat Byrne said. "Both gave us a whooping last year. But as long as we play within our game and within our system, we'll get wins."

For the 4-5-4 Jumbos, "playing within the system" must include improvements on their special teams. Currently, they are last in the NESCAC on the penalty kill, and only kill the penalty 75 percent of the time. But, in contrast, they have done a sufficient job of putting the puck in the net when they get on the power play, as they are 3rd in the NESCAC (scoring 19.7 percent of the time).

"Our special teams have been okay, but nowhere near where we want them to be," Murphy said. "We have to stay out of the penalty box to ensure that we don't put ourselves at a disadvantage."

In addition, Tufts is ninth in the NESCAC in scoring defense, giving up a liberal 4.62 goals per game.

"We definitely need to work on our defense in our own end," Murphy said.

Besides defense, there is certainly a question as to which goaltender will start for the Jumbos. With junior Ben Crapser and his .893 goals against average out with a leg injury, they will have to rely on freshmen Tim Kane and Matt Ninneman.

Ninneman had a standout performance in last Saturday's 3-3 tie with Colby, as he turned away 34 of the White Mules 37 shots. But it is not definite as to who will start.

"We'll see how practice goes for both [Kane and Ninneman] and we'll make our decision from there," Murphy said.

The team is confident with either one in net.

"Ninneman made a lot of great saves last weekend," Hurd said. "But we're just looking for another great weekend out of both of our freshman goalies."

With the season winding down, the time is now for the Jumbos to make a surge in the standings. Sophomore leading scorer Shawn Sullivan (18 points) sees only one way to make that happen.

"As long as we go all out, stay aggressive, and get away from being timid, we'll start winning games again."