Hockey proud of season's result

Despite a slow start to the season, the men's hockey team came out strong in the second half of the season, and, with a little help, was able to make it into the NESCAC playoffs.

"I think if you take the first eight games out, we played very well," coach Brian Murphy said. "We really got our act together and played pretty well over the last 16 games."

The Jumbos began the season in early November with four straight home contests, going 1-3 with losses against national number one Norwich, Saint Michael's, and UMass Dartmouth, with their one win coming against Southern New Hampshire.

The Jumbos slide continued into January, when they lost four straight contests to, among others, NESCAC and national powerhouses Williams and Middlebury.

Perhaps the turning point of the season was the Jumbos first NESCAC victory on Jan. 13, at home against the Connecticut College Camels. The Jumbos escaped with a gritty 5-4 victory on a game winning goal by sophomore Matt McCarthy and 39 saves from senior net minder Ben Crapser.

From that point on, the Jumbos began to step up their level of hockey. The squad went 7-8-1 over the last 16 games of the season, playing as a cohesive unit both on defense and offense.

"The first eight games, we weren't playing well as a group," Murphy said. "But we worked on it, and played better as the year went on."

The high point of the Jumbos season was, according to Murphy, the Jan. 31 victory over the Salem State Vikings. The Jumbos chalked up a convincing 6-3 win, led by senior tri-captain Pat Byrne's two goals and Crapser's 36 stops.

"The Salem State win was a good win," Murphy said. "They're a good team, they made it to the Final Four in the ECAC east, and they beat Middlebury, so we're proud of that win."

The last weekend of the regular season proved to be the most fruitful for the Jumbos. After a loss to Trinity on Friday night, Tufts bounced back to close out the regular year with its first shutout of the season, a 2-0 win against NESCAC rival Wesleyan. The win gave the Jumbos eight on the season, eclipsing last year's total of seven.

"Beating Wesleyan was a nice win in our last home game," Murphy said. "It was good to get a shutout for Ben [Crapser] in his last home game. Also, for most of the year, we worked hard to be better defensively, so it was nice as a group to have that happen."

In addition, the squad found out that due to disciplinary reasons, the Cardinals were forced to forfeit their spot in the playoffs, giving the Jumbos the eighth seed by default. The squad was eliminated from the playoffs after a 7-1 loss to Middlebury in the first round, ending its season.

The end of the season marked the end of the careers for Tufts' three seniors, Byrne, Crapser, and Timm Schatz.

"They're all going to be missed, each of them brings something different to the team," Murphy said. "Ben's our starting goalie, and we're obviously going to have some trouble replacing him. Timm Schatz is an unsung hero on this team, he doesn't really get any of the credit he deserves. And Pat, he's going to graduate with almost 100 points, and his presence will be missed."

Despite the loss of the seniors, the Jumbos are looking forward to next season and hope to build on this year's success, while learning from their shortcomings as well.

"Next year, we have to play better from the get go," Murphy said, "we can't wait until mid-January. But that's something we'll talk about over next couple of months, and hopefully correct it for next year."