Behind a standout goaltending performance by freshman James Kalec, the hockey team bounced back from a tough Friday night loss to beat fellow NESCAC/ECAC East member New England College 6-2 on Saturday at Malden's Valley Forum.
Kalec had 44 saves on 46 shots faced in Tufts' first league win of the season.
On Friday night, the Jumbos fell to St. Anselm 10-4. Tufts now sits at 2-4.
The Jumbos came out sniping in Saturday's game, scoring three goals on their first five shots on their way to the win.
They certainly weren't lacking motivation for the start of this matchup after being demoralized 10-1 last season against the same team.
"We have a history with these guys, after how last season's game turned out," junior forward Matt McCarthy said. McCarthy was among those to score in the first, and he also netted an empty net goal to give him eight on the young season.
The Jumbos took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. NEC came out fired up and scored a quick power play goal early in the second frame. But between Kalec stopping 19 of 20 Pilgrims shots and senior forward and co-captain John Hurd netting his second goal of the game, Tufts staved off NEC and went into the locker room up 4-2 with 20 minutes left to play.
In the third, McCarthy's late empty netter and a score by junior co-captain Ken Cleary gave Tufts a cushion it would not relinquish.
Hurd also scored two goals, the second and third of the year for last season's fourth-leading scorer.
The importance of the game, besides the revenge factor, was not lost on Tufts.
"We wanted to come out and beat these guys, but most of all we just needed those first points in the league," McCarthy said.
Those points may not have come had it not been for Kalec's effort as well as an improved defensive mentality.
"We've been working a lot on playing better team defense," senior defenseman Sean Hayes said. "Kalec came up huge for us, but I think as a defensive unit we also took a big step forward."
"Once we got some goals on the board early we gained a lot of confidence," he added. "This game can definitely be a stepping stone towards greater things."
McCarthy agreed.
"[On Friday] we weren't ready in the first two periods, but we won the third," he said. "We carried that momentum into Saturday and we won all three periods. We have to keep that going."
The aforementioned Friday game with the St. Anselm Hawks was not nearly as beneficial to Tufts' psyche as the NEC contest.
St. A's scored four goals in each of the first two periods and never looked back on its way to the 10-4 triumph. But the silver lining lies in the 3-2 Jumbos advantage in the third period, and that was important to propel Tufts into Saturday.
"St. Anselm is a really good team, and by the time we started playing good hockey it was too late," McCarthy said. "But we had to bounce back from that, and we did."
The Jumbos host Nichols College on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Valley Forum.
