The hockey team entered the 2007-08 season with a pair of NESCAC contests against Williams and Middlebury and emerged 1-1 with a win over the Ephs with a total of seven goals surrendered. But in a pair of contests this weekend that kicked off this season's campaign, the results were noticeably worse as the Jumbos dropped both matchups against the same opponents, Middlebury and Williams, and were outscored 13-2 across the two games.
Playing at Middlebury on Saturday, Tufts found itself on thin ice early on in what would end as a 9-0 romp at the hands of the Panthers. Freshman Martin Drolet opened the Middlebury scoring at 3:36 of the first period, and just 90 seconds later sophomore Bryan Curran found the back of the net with a one-timer assisted by senior Mason Graddock.
At 7:56 of the first period, sophomore Ken Suchoski made it a 3-0 game for Middlebury with a power-play goal after Tufts sophomore Andy Davis had gone to the box for hooking.
Junior John Sullivan added another goal to the Panther's tally at 12:15, and freshman Tucker Donahoe netted Middlebury's fifth and final goal of the period at 18:28 during four-on-four play following a boarding call on Tufts freshman Matt Amico and an interference call on Middlebury sophomore Michael Kretschmer at 17:32.
The Panthers outshot the Jumbos 18-5, chasing freshman Scott Barchard from the goal after the first frame.
"We took Scott out because he wasn't getting support from the guys; they were just all over us," coach Brian Murphy said. "[Kenyon Arena] is a tough place to play versus a nationally ranked team."
Junior Jay McNamara replaced Barchard between the pipes at the start of the second period, and he did not fare much better as Drolet hit the twine for his second goal of the night at just 0:32 in to the second period.
The Panthers scored again at 6:07 with a goal by junior Charlie Towsend and once more at 7:09 when Sullivan buried his second of the night. Middlebury closed the second period with an 8-0 lead.
Middlebury was only able to add one more goal in the third, despite once again lopsidedly outshooting Tufts 19-5. Other than senior Jamie McKenna's power play goal at 11:36, the Panther's could not find the back of the net against McNamara.
"McNamara did a good job keeping us in there," Murphy said.
Friday's season-opener at Williams offered a relatively more positive result for the Jumbos, although they ultimately lost the game 4-2.
Williams got the scoring going with an unassisted goal by senior Brett Haraguchi at 14:14 in the first period. Tufts freshman Nick Resor responded by knotting the score with the first goal of his collegiate career at 17:42, assisted by sophomore Lindsay Walker and junior Matt Ryder.
Freshman Justin Troiani broke the tie less than a minute later, giving Williams a 2-1 lead to take into the second frame.
Play after the break saw Barchard stop all 17 shots he faced, helping keep the Jumbos in the game despite the offense firing only seven shots in the period.
"Scott played well on Friday, working on controlling his rebounds," Murphy said.
The score remained unchanged until 15:53 of the second period, when Tufts senior Joe Milo scored the only goal of the period to make it a 2-2 game.
"We did a lot of what we were trying to do going into the game," junior co-captain David Antonelli said.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the third, freshman Sasha Voloshin scored the game-winner for the Ephs with an unassisted strike at 7:08 into the period. At the time of the goal, Tufts freshman Matt Amico received a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct, making it difficult for the Jumbos to work their way back into the game.
"They scored in the third and then we just took a dumb penalty," Murphy said.
Williams junior Alex Smigelski added one more goal with an empty-netter at 19:25 to close the contest.
"There was just a bounce or two that didn't go our way, but I think we played a pretty good game," Antonelli said. "We have a young group and people were really excited for the first game."
One thing that the young Jumbo squad took away from the weekend was the strength of its youth. Although there is a three-way competition going on for the starting goalkeeping job between Barchard, McNamara and freshman Evin Koleini, Barchard proved with 49 saves that, even as a freshman, he can handle the pressure of being a starting goalie.
"We want all three guys to be competing to play," Murphy said.
"The biggest thing for us is playing with confidence," Antonelli said. "We have all the tools to get it done; it's just a matter of the younger guys learning to use them."
The Jumbos will next face Plymouth State in a nonconference game in the PAL Stovepipe Cup at Manchester, New Hampshire on Saturday.
"We're not pushing the panic button yet," Murphy said. "We're young and we're only going to get better and better each week."
