Jumbos look to continue upward movement

Armed with a talented offense, an injury-free preseason, and solid goaltenders, the ice hockey team hopes to dominate this season, despite its relative youth in the nation's best Division III league.

"I can't stress how competitive the NESCAC is," coach Brian Murphy said. "Everyone is good. There's no Division II for ice hockey, so if you aren't DI, then you're in the NESCAC."

The upcoming season will be the Jumbos' third year in the NESCAC. After a less-than-successful 4-15 year in 2001-2002, the Jumbos improved last season, finishing eighth in the conference and earning a spot in the post-season tournament.

But a finish like that won't satisfy the team this year.

"You know, we improved a lot from our first year [in the NESCAC]," Murphy said. "We made the playoffs, but we want more this year. We want a better seed, we want to make it to the Final Four."

But with a schedule that contains six of the top fifteen teams in the country, including last year's national champions, the Norwich Cadets, the Jumbos will have their work cut out for them.

When asked what the team's strategy would be for the upcoming season, Murphy was emphatic.

"Our strategy is to win," he said.

A combination of a basic system of play, athletic discipline, and solid athletes will be the Jumbos' formula for success.

The team's strengths lie in both its scoring ability and its goaltending. Tri-captains Shawn Sullivan and Pat Byrne will head up the offense, and will be joined by freshman John Murphy, who should provide some toughness on the front line. Defensively, junior tri-captain John Van Pelt, a 2002 transfer from Division I Colorado College, will lead the defense, along with senior goaltender Ben Crasper. According to Murphy, Crasper was "one of the two or three best goaltenders in the league last year."

Most importantly, the Jumbos will need discipline to survive in the highly competitive NESCAC.

"Just because we made some progress last season, doesn't mean we can just lace up our skates and win," Murphy said. "We need to work hard."

Besides losing a number of expected transfers due to Tufts' rigorous application process, the team also lost former captain Mike Carceo, who scored 142 points in 93 games throughout his career, to secure sixth place on the team's all-time scoring list.

"His leadership on and off the ice cannot be replaced," junior forward Gino Rotondi said.

Murphy echoed Rotondi's sentiments.

"As a college team, we're used to losing players to graduation," Murphy said. "But [Carceo's] shoes will be hard to fill."

When asked if he was optimistic about the upcoming season, coach Murphy was cautious.

"In this league, every team is good. You really can't predict how games are going to go. If we were still in the [ECAC Northeast Division], I could confidently say that we would win fifteen games. We just need to go play our games and see how we do."

The Jumbos' upcoming schedule includes standard rivals such as the Williams Ephs, the Colby White Mules, and the Bowdoin Polar Bears. They begin their season this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Malden Arena against defending national champion Norwich and then face-off against St. Michael's on Saturday at the same time.

Murphy feels the team will gel at the right time.

"We probably look better on paper right now than we do on the ice," he said. "But I really feel that we're going to come together and start to play."