The anticipation and excitement of a new season quickly melted into disappointment, as the hockey team dropped consecutive games to Middlebury and Williams on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both games ended in 6-2 losses for the Jumbos, who started their season against the NESCAC's top two teams, including the No. 1 nationally ranked Panthers.
"We played two very good teams to start the season," coach Brian Murphy said. "We're going to look things over and probably change the lines up. The important thing is that it's still early."
On Saturday afternoon, the Jumbos traveled to Williamstown to take on the Ephs. Tufts jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just seven minutes into regulation on a power-play goal by senior co-captain John Murphy. This lead would prove to be Tufts' last of the night, however, as Williams wasted little time in scoring three straight goals in the second period to pull ahead, 3-1.
Freshman defenseman Doug Wilson scored his first career college goal for Tufts to cut the lead to 3-2 late in the second, but the Ephs added three more tallies in the third, including one with 12 seconds remaining, to hand Tufts its second straight loss.
Junior goaltender James Kalec, starting against Williams after coming off the bench in Friday's game against Middlebury, notched 41 saves for the Jumbos, but the Ephs' aggressive offense prevailed, led by sophomore forward Brett Haraguchi who scored twice.
On Friday night, Tufts took the ice against a Middlebury team defending its Div. III national championship for the third straight year. After over 14 minutes of scoreless play, the Panthers netted three quick goals to leap to 3-0 lead and fire up a crowd of over 2,000 at Kenyon Arena. Middlebury then added two more tallies in the second period to lead 5-0.
In the third, Tufts junior forward Ross Gimbel converted a power play opportunity to finally put the Jumbos on the board. Senior forward Brian Bailey scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway late in the third to cut the Panthers' lead to three, but it was too little, too late, as Middlebury added another goal to seal the victory.
Junior Issa Azat made 26 stops in goal in the first two periods for Tufts until Kalec relieved him in the third. Murphy will likely continue to switch between the two experienced juniors.
"You have to have at least two goalies in this league to compete," Murphy said. "I don't think either of them played badly this weekend. We're not ready to say who's number one."
Six different Middlebury players got in on the scoring, and two - junior forward Mickey Gilchrist and freshman defenseman Ryan Seavy - each added an assist.
In the two losses, Tufts failed to muster the offense needed to compete with the two NESCAC heavyweights. In the first game against Middlebury, the Panthers outshot the Jumbos 42-18; in the second, Williams held a 47-20 edge.
The primary reason for the shot differential was the amount of time Tufts spent on the penalty kill. Against the Panthers, Tufts allowed three goals on nine power play opportunities. Against Williams, the Jumbos killed all 12 of the Ephs man-advantage situations but ultimately were worn down by the time spent shorthanded.
"We've got to stay out of the penalty box," Murphy said. "Generally, our better offensive players aren't the ones killing penalties. That's why the shot totals were the way they were."
Many Tufts players drew parallels between the officiating in this weekend's games and the officiating in the "new" NHL. Since the NHL lockout two years ago, the professional hockey league has cracked down on penalties to create more power play opportunities, and thus, more goals. Although these rules were not meant to be applied to NCAA hockey, the Jumbos were somewhat surprised at several penalty calls this weekend.
"In the Williams game, it felt like every time you touched someone with a stick, the referee raised his arm," Bailey said. "We obviously need to adjust to the officiating, and we need to be more disciplined."
"Some of them were definitely tough calls," Murphy added. "We're going to look at the game and try to figure out what is a penalty and what's not. I'm not blaming the officiating, but we need to learn how to adjust."
The officiating went both ways, and one relatively strong aspect of Tufts' game this weekend was the power play. Senior co-captain John Murphy and Doug Wilson each scored power-play goals against Williams. With the two goals, Tufts was able to convert twice against the Ephs in just eight opportunities. Against Middlebury, Gimbel also scored with the man advantage, as the Jumbos scored once out of their eight tries on the power play.
"Our special teams right now are in pretty good shape," Murphy said. "Now, we need to execute a little better in five-on-five play."
"Obviously, the power play really started to work this weekend," Bailey said. "We have some guys who can really shoot the puck from the outside. The power play was a great spot for us last year, and it should be again this season."
The 0-2 Jumbos will look for their first win of the season Tuesday night at Southern New Hampshire.
