Jumbos drop two in disappointing weekend

With playoff positioning hanging in the balance, the hockey team could not respond. The squad traveled to ninth place Wesleyan last Friday only to fall 5-3. It followed that up Saturday with an 8-3 defeat at the hands of the Trinity Bantams. After losing these two key games, the Jumbos head into next weekend's NESCAC playoffs with a mediocre 7-10-4 record.

After they had already clinched a playoff spot, the Jumbos headed into the weekend with hopes of improving their seeding position. But after losing to a very beatable Wesleyan team Friday, Tufts pinned its hopes on beating NESCAC power Trinity.

"We definitely came out more ready to play Saturday than we did against Wesleyan," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said. "But they started hot and we just couldn't catch up."

The hot start was a first period in which the Bantams outshot the Jumbos 16-8. After having played the third period of the game the night before, junior goalie Ben Crapser was starting his first game since coming back from his leg injury. Amidst the plethora of shots he faced in the first period, he surrendered three goals, two of them coming on the Bantams' power play. It was 3-0 heading into the first intermission.

"I don't know how comfortable Ben was in net after being out for so long," Carceo said. "But we shot ourselves in the foot with those penalties, and a good team like Trinity will always capitalize, regardless of who's in net."

The second period was far more even. Both teams played a highly offensive style of hockey and each had 16 shots on net. Sophomore Shawn Sullivan notched his 12th goal of the year to start the scoring in the second period and trim the gap to 3-1. But Trinity brought the Jumbos back to reality. Ryan Stevens netted what proved to be the game winner a mere 21 seconds after Sullivan's tally. Carceo made the score 5-2 with a goal 12:25 into the period, but the goal proved irrelevant as the Jumbos skated to the locker room after the second down 6-2.

Freshman goaltender Tim Kane saw action for most of the third period as Crapser was pulled after the eighth goal. Freshman forward Ken Cleary scored the final Jumbos goal with 5:39 in the third to "narrow" the final score to 8-3. Tufts did out shoot Trinity 10-7 in the third, giving the Jumbos something positive to take with them into next weekend.

"We didn't play as poorly as the score indicates in the Trinity game," sophomore forward John Hurd said. "There were just a few defensive and mental mistakes that were too much to overcome."

The Jumbos were actually pleased with their performance against Trinity due to the sub-par performance they had put out the night before against Wesleyan. For the first two and a half periods, the Jumbos were flat and allowed Wesleyan to hold a 4-1 lead. Freshman goalie Matt Ninneman had been removed from the game after the second period and was replaced by Crapser.

"We didn't come to play from the start," Hurd said. "We had no intensity and we were simply getting outworked."

Then, something clicked half way through the final period. Freshman defenseman Jack Thompson notched his first goal of the year on the power play at the 10:57 mark. The Jumbos continued to carry play and, seven minutes later, Thompson scored his second goal not only of the game, but of the year. It was now a completely different game with the score at 4-3.

But Tufts' effort was too little too late. The Jumbos called timeout and pulled their goalie with a minute left, only to see Wesleyan score an empty net goal to seal the Jumbos fate.

"We only played ten minutes of good hockey," Carceo said. "Good teams play the whole game, and we didn't do that."

Hurd echoed Carceo's feelings.

"We were only there physically and mentally for the last half of the third period," Hurd said. "We just weren't there the rest of the night. We just beat ourselves."

The team now has a week to lick its wounds as it prepares for Saturday's tilt at Middlebury. The Jumbos lost 6-2 against Middlebury in Vermont on Jan. 10.

"We'll go over the Middlebury game tape this week," Carceo said.

The team is putting this past weekend behind it, and focusing its attention on the job it has ahead of it on Saturday.

"We're going up against one of the best teams in the country," Carceo said. "They pack that arena, so it will be a great atmosphere. As poorly as we've played recently, we're real excited for this opportunity. We have to make the best of it."