Jumbos overwhelmed by top seed Middlebury

Wesleyan gave Tufts a golden opportunity. The Jumbos weren't able to cash in on it.

After a strange sequence of events that saw Wesleyan forfeit its spot in the NESCAC playoffs, allowing Tufts to take the eighth and final playoff spot, the Jumbos traveled to Middlebury this weekend for their NESCAC quarterfinal game and fell 7-1 to the top-seeded Panthers.

Earlier in the week, Wesleyan was forced to forfeit its seventh seed in the NESCAC playoffs after ten of twelve seniors on the team were suspended due to a preseason party the team had, according to the Wesleyan Argus. This move set into motion an unusual chain of events, with eighth ranked Amherst moving to the seven slot and the ninth ranked Jumbos slipping into the eighth and final playoff spot, a goal that had eluded them all season.

But Tufts' hopes of causing some damage in the playoffs were stifled on Saturday evening by a strong Middlebury squad (22-3, 15-3 in NESCAC) which has appeared in the Division III national rankings this season.

The Jumbos played well in the first period, going into the first intermission tied 1-1. Tufts' lone goal came on the power-play from sophomore forward Ken Cleary at the 15:53 mark. It was assisted by fellow sophomore Pat Walsh and junior Gino Rotondi.

"We had tried some new things in practice and we had high hopes after the first period," sophomore Tim Kane said.

The Panthers showed their prowess, however, and came out firing in the second period, amassing five goals in a span of ten minutes and eighteen seconds.

"Originally, we trapped them," sophomore Matt McCarthy said. "But they adjusted very well in the second period and we failed to readjust our game. The second period was definitely rough."

The Jumbos were outshot 26-4 in the period.

"We had a couple of penalties in the second period that just killed us and put us down 4-1," Kane said. "And then they scored two more goals in that period. It's really tough to come back against such a good team like Middlebury when you're down like that."

Middlebury put the icing on the cake less than five minutes into the third period by scoring their seventh goal of the evening, while holding the Jumbos scoreless for the remainder of the game after their lone first-period goal. Six different players scored for the Panthers, led by senior John Dawson (two goals, one assist) and freshman Evgeny Saidachev (one goal, two assists).

Middlebury's dominance of Tufts was obvious in other facets of the game as well. The Jumbos were outshot 54-14, putting huge amounts of pressure on senior goalie Ben Crapser. Tufts also amassed eight penalties (for a total of 16 penalty minutes), which eventually led to two Panther power-play goals. Middlebury had just three penalties for a total of six minutes.

Tufts finished the season 8-15-1 while Middlebury will host Colby in the NESCAC semifinals. The White Mules, who disposed of Williams by a count of 3-1 in the quarterfinals, will try to avoid following in Tufts' footsteps in the Panthers' 2,100 seat Kenyon Arena.

"It was really tough playing up there with such a large crowd cheering against you," McCarthy said. "But I'm very proud of the way we played. No one gave up, even during the last minute of the game when we were down big."

Kane echoed that sentiment.

"We just kept playing," he said. "And I think that says a lot about this team's character. We have some good kids on this team. No one gave up and we kept playing hard. We'll be back next year."