In a pivotal weekend that offered a prime opportunity to gain ground in the NESCAC standings, the Jumbos came up empty-handed, dropping two consecutive matches against league-rivals.
Tufts dropped its first game of the weekend against Hamilton, 7-4, and could not rebound in its second game, coming up short against Amherst, 4-1.
The Jumbos had enjoyed a winning record through much of January but have cooled down lately. This weekend marked the team's third consecutive loss, evening its overall record at 8-8-2 and 5-7-1 in the NESCAC.
Senior co-captain Ken Cleary reflected on the team's poor showing this weekend.
"We were not mentally prepared for the games," he said. "Both games were win-able, we just started off slow. Having a lot of away games, especially on a long road trip, takes its toll on the team, and I think that played into it."
Against Amherst, Tufts had an early advantage, coming out strong and collecting a controversial goal by freshman Joe Milo. Milo's shot appeared to have traveled under the Amherst net, but after deliberating the call, the referees upheld the goal, giving Milo his 11th goal of the season. Freshmen Andrew Delorey and Phil Clark were credited with assists on the play.
The Lord Jeffs countered in the second period on an impressive pass from freshman Will Collins that set up the tying goal from junior Brandon Zangel. Collins baited the Tufts defense and sophomore goaltender James Kalec, drawing them out of position before dropping the puck off to Zangel for the chip-in.
The goal marked the turning point of the game, and from then on in, it was all Amherst. The Lord Jeffs took the lead with a second-chance put-in from senior A.J. Greco, and carried its momentum heading into the third period with a cross-ice blast from junior Sean Ellis off feeds from classmate Erik Lund and sophomore Gregg Adamo.
Amherst tallied one more goal late in the final minutes of the game on an empty-netter from Lund to seal the game. The win marked the team's sixth consecutive league win, improving its record to 12-5-1 overall and 9-3-1 in NESCAC play.
Amherst junior goaltender Josh Fillman had a strong day in net, tallying 31 saves in the victory, while Tufts' Kalec posted 35 saves in the loss.
Players attributed the loss to a lack of focus, which has hampered the team in their last three games.
"We weren't doing the small things and everything we needed to do to win," senior co-assistant captain Matt McCarthy said. "We need to come out stronger and play better early in the game, right off the bat. We've been on the road a lot, but mentally we should be ready to play three periods. It's not that hard."
The Jumbos played a more closely matched game in the first half of the weekend stint against Hamilton. The Continentals came out strong early in the game, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on a tally from freshman forward Travis Blood and a short-handed goal from forward Gus Katsuras just over a minute later.
The Jumbos answered with a power-play goal from McCarthy to cut the Hamilton lead to one. Hamilton freshman forward Andrew Decristoforo found the net once more to give his team a 3-1 lead.
McCarthy hooked up with his younger bother, freshman Greg McCarthy, in the second period to score his second goal of the game and pull the Jumbos within one. Hamilton answered again with a goal late in the second period to take a 4-2 lead.
Momentum turned in the Jumbos' favor in the third period, as Tufts finally was able to tie the game up with goals from the younger McCarthy and senior captain Ken Cleary. That energy was short-lived, however, as the Continentals posted goals from seniors Casey Deak and Jeff Vautour late in the third, then finished on an empty-netter from senior Erik Kallio in the final minutes of the game.
Hamilton simply out-played the Jumbos when it counted, out-shooting Tufts 41-27. With the two power-play goals, Matt McCarthy posted his team-leading 15th goal of the season. Kalec posted 34 saves in the loss, while Hamilton senior goaltender Gabe Tash recorded 23 stops to help improve the Continentals to 8-7-1 and 7-5 in the NESCAC.
"We gave [the Hamilton] game away," the elder McCarthy said. "We came back in the second and third periods and climbed back in it. We outplayed them in both periods but we just couldn't get enough for the win."
With the losses, Tufts now drops to seventh in the league standings. The Jumbos will have an opportunity to catch up in the standings this weekend when they face NESCAC rivals Wesleyan and Trinity. The losses are unsettling however, especially coming on the heels of 7-1-1 record dating back to early December.
"We're going to learn from these losses, but also try and put them behind us," Cleary said. "We know we have to perform better and a good week of focused practice and mental and physical rest should prepare us for this weekend."
The Jumbos are not out of the playoff race, but will have to win down the stretch to avoid an eighth-seed position, which would pit them against Middlebury, 16-0 overall and one of the premier programs in the country.
"We have a very good chance to make the playoffs," the elder McCarthy said. "This weekend will be big - the more wins we get, the better. We're trying to avoid an eighth-seed finish, which would put us up against Middlebury. We haven't matched up well against them in the past."
