History has a tendency to repeat itself.
In 2003, the hockey team began the season by dropping its first two games to Norwich University and St. Michael's College, ultimately finishing 8-15-1 (4-13-1 NESCAC). The team lost to those very same two teams this weekend to start its second consecutive campaign with an 0-2 record.
On Saturday, Tufts suffered a close 6-5 loss to St. Michael's as the Purple Knights scored the game-winning goal within the last four minutes of play.
On Friday, the Jumbos were shut out by Norwich University, 8-0, to start out the 2004-05 regular season.
"It's frustrating to lose [the St. Michael's] game for us," coach Brian Murphy said. "It's difficult to play back-to-back games on the road."
Murphy was not up in Vermont to coach his team due to the fact that he and his wife just had a new baby. Despite his absence, Murphy is not worried about the team's slow start.
"We are going to be a good team before the end of the season," Murphy said.
Tufts out shot St. Michael's 38-36, but fell short in the closing minutes.
Senior forward Jason Boudrow had the first goal of the game with an assist from freshman Greg O'Connell. The Jumbos went into the second period with a 1-0 lead on Boudrow's goal, but left the second 20 minutes down 3-2.
Two costly Jumbo penalties allowed the Purple Knights to score a pair of goals during power plays. Junior Matt McCarthy scored his first of two goals for the Jumbos in the second when Tufts was on a power play of its own.
"We played well, but we didn't get the breaks they did offensively," McCarthy said.
The third period saw action from both teams as a total of six goals were scored. The Jumbos capitalized on an early power play in the third and tied the game at 3-3 with McCarthy's second goal of the day. Tufts took the lead when freshman Kurt Hertzog stole the puck from a Purple Knight and beat the goalie with an unassisted shot over the goalie's left shoulder.
The Purple Knights answered with back-to-back goals from Jared Silver and Erik Caron less than one minute apart with 12 minutes left to go in the game.
Junior captain Kenny Cleary scored his first goal for the Jumbos, tying the game 5-5 with 10 minutes to go.
With 3:40 left to play, St. Michaels' Alex Watts scored the game-winning sixth goal for his team.
Freshman James Kalec was in goal for the Jumbos, recording 30 saves over the three periods.
The previous day, the Jumbos opened their season on the road at Norwich University. They were out shot 49-15 and outscored 8-0. The Cadets scored four goals in the third period, two of those coming off of power play opportunities. A combined 23 penalties were called between the two teams, twelve of which were on Tufts.
"We didn't play with the poise we needed," McCarthy said. "We have the talent to win games against teams like Norwich but it was our first game and we never really got into a groove, especially because of penalties, which hurt us all weekend."
Junior Matt Ninnemann started in goal for Tufts, stopping 13 shots and giving up three goals in the first period alone. In the second period, freshman James Kalec replaced Ninnemann in goal and saved 14 of the 15 shots Norwich had on goal.
"This was our first game and we definitely have some kinks that we needed to work out," sophomore defenseman Pete Corbett said. "We have been practicing [playing a] defensive zone a lot during our training. It's always a different situation when you're in games though. We are still coming together and getting used to each other."
This is the first year that Tufts will have a full roster of recruited players.
"There are some key freshmen this year and a lot of our players have matured," Cleary said.
Tufts returns to the ice on Tuesday when it visits Southern New Hampshire University with a 7:30 p.m. face-off.
