The hockey team can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It took six weeks, but the Jumbos finally secured a victory on Tuesday evening.
The tables seemed to turn for Tufts, winless in its last eight tries, as the team was on the winning side of a back-and-forth 4-3 victory over Suffolk University that improved the Jumbos to 3-10 on the season.
"We got a couple good bounces last night," coach Brian Murphy said. "We didn't play great, but we played well enough to win. Sometimes it may not show, but we're a good team."
Freshman Doug Wilson opened the scoring for the Jumbos early in the first period with a power play goal, his fifth of the season. After Suffolk sophomore forward John Rocchio tied the game less than 30 seconds later, Jumbo sophomore forward Greg McCarthy answered with his second goal of the season.
Tufts' lead was once again short-lived, as Suffolk tied the game one minute later, ending the first period in a 2-2 deadlock.
Tufts didn't wait long to jump on the board in the second period, with McCarthy scoring his second goal of the game to give the Jumbos the lead yet again. Freshman Evan Crosby scored the insurance goal, his second of the season, later in the period, to put Tufts up 4-2.
Although the Rams cut Tufts' lead to one with just over three minutes remaining in the second period, the Tufts defense silenced the Rams in the last period, allowing its team to emerge with a crucial victory.
"I think we did the same things we've been always doing last night," junior goaltender Issa Azat said. "We executed better. We've been playing our game the entire year, but last night it just clicked."
"I think we really played to win last night," added senior Brian Bailey, who is also a Daily Staff Writer. "We came out with the attitude that we should win the game. We tried to take it to the other team, which is something that we haven't really done well this year."
Despite losing eight-straight games in recent weeks, Murphy has remained confident, believing that the Jumbos' record does not indicate what the team has accomplished. While a few ugly losses, such as a 7-2 to thrashing at the hands of UMass-Dartmouth on Dec. 5, followed by a 7-0 loss to Connecticut College on Dec. 9, have blemished Tufts' schedule, several of the previous eight games were close contests. Murphy has tried to channel his optimism into keeping the players motivated.
"When you're losing games, it might look to the outside world like we're not getting things accomplished," Murphy said. "The reality is, we've been improving. We're motivated to be a better hockey team each week."
"[Murphy] kept on reminding us that it's the next game that matters," Azat said. "He told us that we couldn't do anything about the ones that already happened, but we have to keep thinking about the next games."
Such a positive approach is important when dealing with a young and relatively experienced team. With 10 freshmen and five sophomores on the roster, Tufts' younger players, such as McCarthy and freshman Doug Wilson, have been contributing and improving each game, even if the score has shown otherwise.
Wilson's combined five goals and six assists have placed him second on the team in overall points with 11. McCarthy sits just under Wilson on the team list with 10 points, and his outstanding two-goal, one-assist performance on Tuesday night generously added to his season totals.
"The reality is, we have 10 freshmen, five sophomores, and they're constantly continuing to improve," Murphy said. "We're young, and I expect most of these guys to contribute for the rest of their careers. It's a tough challenge to jump into an NCAA sport."
"Obviously there's a lot of really great potential on the team," Bailey said. "There are a lot of younger guys who can really improve the program. Our record may not show it, but we've really improved. It shows how strong we'll be in the future."
"The younger players are already playing roles now, and they'll be better next year," junior Kurt Hertzog added. "Things are looking up."
The Jumbos will return home Friday night for a NESCAC match-up against Bowdoin College.
