It was not a fairy tale ending, nor was it a fairy tale season. But after Saturday's 9-2 loss at the hands of Trinity in Hartford, Tufts can take solace in the marked improvement it has shown since last year's season.
Tufts finished the season at 12-12-1, a four win improvement from the 8-15-1 mark it compiled last year, which consisted of basically the same schedule. This year's squad also chalked up eight NESCAC/ECAC East wins, doubling its total from 2003-2004.
Regardless of these facts, Trinity's program is simply on another plane than Tufts'. While Tufts is still seeking its first win in a NESCAC tourney game, Trinity, the No. 3 team in the country, is on the prowl for its fourth consecutive visit to the league championship game. Such big game experience was evident in this weekend's match-up.
On its way to 14 first-period shots, the home team scored three goals in the first ten minutes before allowing the Jumbos to get on the board with a goal from senior co-captain John Hurd at 14:10.
"[Trinity] just came out flying," coach Brian Murphy said. "When you play a team like that, a team that I think can contend for the national championship, you have to play your best game. And we didn't."
Not only did the Jumbos play less than their best against a power in Div. III but they also hurt themselves with penalties. Tufts handed the Bantams seven power plays, and Trinity, as most great teams do, capitalized on those mistakes. Trinity's five power play goals were evidence of this.
"Penalties hurt us," Murphy said. "You just can't take too many of them against a team like that. They weren't the story of the game, but they certainly played a huge part."
While the final stats give the appearance that Trinity was the more opportunistic team on the power play, such was not the case until the third period. The Jumbos scored both of their goals with the extra man, including a late second period score by junior team leader Matt McCarthy (his 19th). Heading into the third period, Trinity had only capitalized on one power play.
The third period was a different story, however, as the Bantams rolled off four more man-advantage tallies on their way to the win and a spot in the league's Final Four.
With the victory, the Bantams increased their unbeaten streak to 11 games.
This was the final game for seniors Hurd, Sean Hayes, Jason Boudrow and Matt Kniaz. Murphy emphasized how much they meant to the program, with an eye on where the program is headed.
"We are truly going to miss our seniors," he said. "We have a lot of good young talent and with next year's recruiting class looking up, I like the way we look right now."
Included in the young nucleus are freshmen goalies James Kalec and Issa Azat and freshmen forwards Greg O'Connell (second on team in points with 28) and Ross Gimbel (18 points). Freshman defenseman Joe Cappellano also chipped in admirably with 10 points.
Tufts ended last season in a similar fashion - as an eighth seed getting clearly outplayed by a dominant top-seed. Last year, it was Middlebury and this time it was Trinity inflicting the damage, but a closer look at the two seasons reveals the improvements the team made.
"We won five NESCAC games this year, including beating Colby and tying Bowdoin," Murphy said. "A lot of these other schools have rinks on their campus, so that is definitely an advantage for them. But we showed we can play, and we showed improvement this year. I'm happy with where we are, but we have bigger goals than just the eighth seed in the tournament every year."
