Jumbos begin post season quest

After missing the post season last year, the hockey team is pleased to have a look at the playoffs this year. The team's 7-10-4 record has earned it the eighth and final playoff spot for this year's NESCAC tournament. Facing off against number one seed Middlebury in the first round, the team faces a tall task if it wants to keep championship hopes alive.

"We're feeling pretty confident," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said. "We played them well most of the game last time so everybody's pretty excited."

The Jumbos have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1999. That year, after defeating Johnson and Wales 7-3 in the first round, Tufts suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 OT loss to Fitchburg State.

The Jumbos made another playoff appearance the following year as well, but were unable to advance beyond the first round, suffering a close overtime loss to Salve Regina, 6-5.

The Jumbos feature three seniors in their lineup, Carceo, co-captain Chris Martin and Dan Geary. Each of these players carries with him experience from the team's pervious playoff appearances.

In contrast, the Panthers enter with much more experience in the postseason. As the defending NESCAC Champions for the past three years, Middlebury will be intent on continuing its reign.

The Panthers enter the tournament with a 19-3-2 overall record, and a 16-1-2 NESCAC record. They now enter the tournament red hot, with their last loss coming on Dec. 7 against Salem State, their only conference defeat.

Meanwhile, the Jumbos are struggling as they enter the post season riding a three-game losing streak with their last victory coming on Feb. 14 against Amherst. The team is determined not to let the season's dismal end carry onto the post season and has focused on improving in practice this week.

"Hopefully it's out of our system now," Carceo said. "Last weekend was pretty tough but I think we've snapped out of it."

Beating Middlebury will be a tough task, but the Jumbos believe they are up to the challenge, despite the outcome of their last matchup. When the two teams met in early January, the Jumbos were struggling much as they are now and ended up losing the battle 6-2.

During that game, Middlebury outshot the Jumbos 52-28. Yet the Panthers were not as dominating as the statistics make them out to be. The game was fairly tight until Middlebury pulled away in the third period with three goals.

Their ability to keep with the Panthers for much of the game is encouraging for the Jumbos as they prepare for tomorrow's game.

Going into this weekend's game Tufts hopes to approach the matchup with a different outlook. Struggling with the power play in their recent games, the Jumbos will need to capitalize on any opportunity they receive if they want the game to go their way.

The venue, Middlebury's Kenyon Arena, will require that the Jumbos are on top of their passing game and will most likely feature a high paced matchup instead of the tough physical play to which Tufts is accustomed.

According to Carceo, the team knows it needs to slow down the Panthers to get their offense out of sync.

As for facing the league's toughest team in their first postseason game, the Jumbos are not going to let Middlebury's top seeding scare them.

"We're playing the best team first and you'd have to meet them eventually, so we might as well get it out of the way," Carceo said.