In a closely-played game that saw strong defensive performances from both teams, the Jumbos failed to manage a victory in overtime against Southern New Hampshire University last Tuesday at home, ending the hard-fought game deadlocked in a 3-3 tie.
Despite strong offensive bursts that gave Tufts the lead three times in the game, the Penmen fought back, answering each goal with a score of their own. Heading into overtime, however, the Jumbos could not carry over their offensive production, failing to capitalize with a man advantage. With the tie, the Jumbos remain winless on the season, with a 0-2-1 overall record.
Heading into overtime, the team was expecting a win especially after putting together two strong periods of offense.
"I expected a lot more than what we did," senior assistant co-captain Matt McCarthy said. "Anytime you have a lead that many times you expect to win. We also should have put more goals up against them. Three isn't enough and we know we should have scored more."
Tufts was led by a dominant performance in net by sophomore goalie James Kalec who finished the game with 51 saves along with a first-period shutout.
The Penmen looked to have the offensive momentum throughout much of the first period, bombarding Kalec with shots and controlling the play in the Jumbo zone. In the second period, however, the Jumbos answered with an offensive burst of their own. McCarthy found the net through the five-hole off a feed from his younger brother, freshman Greg McCarthy, to put the Jumbos up 1-0.
The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Penmen answered with a goal six minutes later by Kyle Bousquet.
Tufts sophomore Ross Gimbel lit the lamp off a feed from classmate Greg O'Connell to put Tufts up 2-1 again in the second period, but the Penman found a way to answer once again, tying the game at two heading into the third and final 20 minutes.
Tufts came out strong early in the third period and was rewarded with a goal from senior co-captain Ken Cleary. Cleary was fed off the tandem play of the McCarthy brothers who quickly moved the puck in their zone to set their teammate up for the score. As was the trend for the entire game, the Penmen answered with a goal of their own from sophomore Matt Lemay that tied the game at the final score of 3-3.
Both Kalec and freshman Penman goalie Matt Courchesne held out strong in the overtime period.
The Jumbos will look for their first win of the season as they host Salve Regina Tuesday at home. Salve Regina currently sits at 2-1-1 on the season, averaging just over three goals a game.
There are still some kinks that the team hopes to work out as it continues its quest for its first win. Among the many things the Jumbos look to improve upon are their offensive consistency and their control of the puck in key power play situations.
"Some aspects have gone well and some haven't," McCarthy said. "There's nothing really specific that we need to work on [individually], but we have been working on special teams and just playing more consistently."
The Jumbos seemed to struggle on capitalizing on the power play against Southern New Hampshire. According to players, the team has been working in practice on controlling the puck in power play situations, which in close games are often a deciding factor.
The Jumbos will also look to improve on their consistency on offense. The team believes it has not lived up to its offensive potential and will look to change that come Tuesday.
"We're still not where we want to be," McCarthy said. "We're just not playing consistently. There have been a lot of situations where we take a lead, then let it go late in the game, and instead of winning, we end up with a tie or a loss. We just don't have that killer instinct that you need to finish off teams when it counts."
