Although the hockey team has scored first in four of its first six games this season, the Jumbos have also been outscored 12-6 in the third period. That trend held this weekend and a little trouble in the clutch was all it took to drop the Jumbos below .500.
Tufts managed early leads on both Friday and Saturday but allowed four goals in the final frame of each contest to come away with a loss and a tie.
Undefeated New England College handed Tufts its third loss of the season Saturday afternoon. The Jumbos came out strong, as sophomore Cory Korchin scored his second goal of the season at 13:17, assisted by freshmen Lindsay Walker and Dylan Cooper. But the lead melted away just 15 seconds later as the Pilgrims found the net to equalize the game 1-1.
NEC went on to outshoot Tufts 30-13 over the first two periods, but thanks to solid goalkeeping by senior James Kalec, the Jumbos went into the final frame deadlocked with the Pilgrims.
"It was a pretty even matchup," senior tri-captain Ross Gimbel said. "They outshot us a bit, but we were still in it."
NEC senior Evan Erdmann broke the tie with what proved to be the game-winning goal just two minutes into the third period. Then at 3:24, senior Mike Mullen added an unassisted insurance goal to push the lead to 3-1. The Jumbos had opportunities on several power plays later in the third, including a five-on-three, but NEC killed all five of its penalties in the game.
"They just got a couple of quick ones after a brief letdown," Gimbel said. "We could've gotten a point or two. A win would've been real nice, and we had a tie in our grasp."
With the win, the Pilgrims improved to 4-0-1, with freshman Aaron Harvey saving 18 shots in his debut performance. The Jumbos fell to a 1-2-1 NESCAC/ECAC mark despite Kalec's impressive 34 saves in net.
"James definitely was the best player of the weekend," said senior tri-captain Greg O'Connell. "Ross had a big game too. He scored a couple goals against St. Anselm. A lot of guys picked up their games."
Tufts was coming off a tough matchup with St. Anselm, which the Jumbos played to a tie the previous night. The Hawks, undefeated heading into the game, hosted the Jumbos in front of a packed Sullivan Arena in Manchester, N.H.
Just 34 seconds after the opening faceoff, senior Kurt Hertzog momentarily hushed the crowd when his third goal of the season put the Jumbos in front. Off a feed from Gimbel, who earned his third assist on the year, Hertzog collected his own rebound and poked the puck past sophomore goalie Jason Zuck. Then at 14:06, Gimbel tallied his 30th career goal to make it a 2-0 game.
"The first play of our first shift, I got a great pass from [O'Connell]," Gimbel said. "I saw Kurt, and gave him the puck in front of the net, and he buried it. Then we had a power play and set up a box-and-one. O'Connell sent me a saucer pass. I took it and sniped it top shelf."
The Jumbos killed their first four penalties of the game, but the Hawks finally capitalized with 6:32 left in the second period on freshman John Penny's first career goal. Tufts went into the third with a 2-1 lead, but St. Anselm scored again on the power play just 1:43 in. During the penalty, O'Connell almost tacked on a goal, but his shot ricocheted off the crossbar.
"Every team gets bounces and breaks," O'Connell said. "On Friday, we came out strong with two good periods, but [St. Anselm] got the crowd back into it. We hit a couple posts, but that's just part of the game. Saturday, [New England College] was a much better skating and passing team, and even more physical. James played excellent - we just didn't execute."
Less than a minute after losing the lead, the Jumbos went up 3-2 with a man advantage. Six seconds into the power play, freshman Andy Davis fired a shot from the point that found Gimbel, who put home his second goal of the game.
Both teams had many scoring chances in the final period, but the only goal came by the Hawks with 12:03 left in the game.
The game headed into overtime even in score and with a narrow 34-33 shot advantage for the Hawks, but the Jumbos recorded the only two shots in the extra five-minute period. Korchin nearly won the game for the Jumbos with just over a minute to play, but his shot glanced off the post and was covered up by Zuck.
"It was a tough one," Gimbel said. "We were leading, but we knew they were going to come out stronger and stronger."
St. Anselm has now taken three of its four opponents into overtime while not surrendering a single goal during those extra frames. Tufts, meanwhile sits a game under .500 at 2-3-1 and will face Conn. College this Saturday.
