Jumbos battle to 3-3 OT tie against Colby

After a disheartening 12-2 loss to NESCAC rival Bowdoin on Friday night, the hockey team showed up Saturday afternoon on a mission to redeem itself. That mission resulted in a hard fought 3-3 tie with the Colby White Mules, ranked 11th nationally.

Sophomore Shawn Sullivan's game tying goal with 19:02 left in the third period prevented the Jumbos from falling even further below the .500 mark. With the tie, the team remains one game under at 4-5-4 (4-5-2, NESCAC).

"We would have rather had the win, but against a proven team like Colby, we'll take any points we can get," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said.

As the score indicates, at no point did either team dominate the match-up, which happened to be only the Jumbos fourth home game of the year. While Tufts was out-shot 16-6 in the first period, Colby did not get enough quality shots on freshman goalie Matt Ninneman to make a difference.

After Colby scored first, a Sullivan goal with assists from sophomore defenseman Sean Hayes and junior defenseman John Van Pelt knotted the score at 1-1 as the teams skated into the locker rooms at intermission.

As the second period got underway, both teams came out shooting, but both goalies appeared up ready for the barrage of shots. However, when Van Pelt was sent to the sin bin for high sticking at 4:03, one of the Jumbos six penalties in the game, it appeared as if Colby was going to take the lead.

The White Mules had been peppering freshman goalie Matt Ninneman with shot after shot, and it continued to do so on the power play. But with a minute left on the penalty kill, the Jumbos found themselves on a two on one break, where freshman Ken Cleary capitalized on a perfect pass from sophomore Gino Rotondi to put the Jumbos up 2-1.

The lead was short lived, as Colby answered with two quick tallies within two minutes of one another to snatch the lead away from Tufts, 3-2. Though Tufts was out-shot 12-6 in the period; the Jumbos headed into the third period feeling upbeat.

"We felt confident heading into the third period," Sullivan said.

Sullivan's confidence would pay dividends. With Tufts carrying play in the third period, it was only a matter of time before it capitalized. After calling a timeout before a face-off in the White Mules zone with a minute left in regulation, Carceo slipped a pass to freshman forward Matt McCarthy. He then dished it off to Sullivan, who beat Colby goalie Chris Ries top shelf for his second goal of the game to tie the game 3-3.

In overtime, neither team was able to find the net, with the Jumbos Tufts tallying the only shot on goal.

All in all, the seventh-place Jumbos were pleased with the effort.

"We need to have that kind of intensity in every game we play," sophomore forward John Hurd said. "We know we can play with anyone."

The team's cause was helped by the performance of freshman Ninneman, who saw his first action of the year, playing in place of the injured Ben Crasper. Ninneman faced 37 shots and saved 34 of them, many on tough rebounds.

"Ninneman stepped up huge today," Carceo said. "It's always good to have a goalie on a roll between the pipes."

While the Jumbos were pleased with their ability to skate step for step with the 11th ranked White Mules, they were also happy to demonstrate that their big loss to the Bowdoin Polar Bears was an aberration. Cleary and junior forward Pat Byrne each scored for the Jumbos in a game which was actually fairly close until the third period. But eight straight Bowdoin goals put an end to any Jumbos hopes of getting back in the game.

"That game was a fluke," Carceo said. "We know we're a much better team than that."

Tufts' homestand continues into next weekend, when it will face Salem State Friday night and Southern Maine on Saturday at Malden Arena.