Ice Hockey | Jumbos finish unbeaten in two-game NESCAC weekend

    Just when it was beginning to look like the ice hockey team was down for the count, it stood back up — twice.
    In what may prove to be a key turning point in this winter's campaign for a NESCAC postseason tournament bid, the Jumbos fought back on consecutive nights against stiff conference competition to go 1-0-1 on the weekend homestand.
    In a Saturday afternoon affair at the Malden Forum, the Jumbos put together an impressive 5-3 victory over Bowdoin after trailing late in the third period. The resilient effort came on the heels of another gritty performance against Colby on Friday night, which saw the Jumbos overcome an early 2-0 deficit to secure an important 3-3 tie against another NESCAC rival.
    The team's chance of a comeback against the Polar Bears on Saturday looked bleak after Bowdoin sophomore Brendan Reich beat Tufts freshman goaltender Scott Barchard high late in the second period to put the visitors up 3-2. The goal came just seconds after Bowdoin was able to kill off a bench minor penalty and provided the penalty-laden period's only offensive action.
    Despite goals from sophomore defenseman Andy Davis and junior defenseman Doug Wilson, through the first two periods, the Jumbos were outshot by a healthy 32-17 margin, and while Barchard was playing as well as he ever has in his young Jumbo career, coach Brian Murphy knew that he needed to make a few adjustments to shift the game's momentum.
    "[Barchard] did a great job for us on Saturday," Murphy said. "We just came a little bit unglued in the second period, and we struggled a bit on the power play, but we addressed that in between periods. Going forward, we know that to be successful we need to support one another and just work as a unit."
    After the period break, the Jumbos and sophomore forward Tom Derosa went to work. At the 10:00 mark of the final frame, Derosa converted the team's first power play tally of the weekend, burying his third power play goal of the season on assists from freshman forwards Nick Resor and Matt Amico.
    Less than four minutes later, Derosa beat Bowdoin senior goaltender Nick Smith again, registering his team-leading 10th goal and 18th point of the season. This time around, however, the Jumbos were on the penalty kill rather than the man advantage as Derosa recorded the team's second shorthanded goal of the season with helpers from Resor and sophomore forward Dylan Cooper.
    The Jumbo effort was completed when Cooper took a feed from Resor, his third assist on the game, and buried an empty-net goal at 18:51 to seal the 5-3 victory.
    The game's final frame featured more balanced play than the previous two, as Bowdoin only narrowly led the shot margin, 16-13. But it was the injury-riddled Jumbo defense that sparked the Derosa-led comeback.
    "Scott has been incredible the past few games, but we also didn't give up a lot of quality shots either, which is very important," junior defenseman and co-captain Dave Antonelli said. "By keeping our opponents on the perimeter and limiting the number of rebounds that they were able get close in front of Scott, we were able to limit their good scoring opportunities, even if that meant we might lose the shot differential."
    "I think we're simply bending but not breaking on defense," Murphy added. "We've got some guys back there who haven't really played all that much on defense [due to injuries], so we're learning a bit on the fly here. The number of penalties we took certainly affected the number of shots [against] on net, but we're not giving up any power play goals, and that's the key. The special teams battle always is a good indicator of the game's outcome, and this weekend we did well in those areas."
    Friday night's contest against Colby saw the Mules jump to an early 1-0 lead just over four minutes into the game on sophomore forward Billy Crinnion's score. Colby struck again as the second period was just getting underway, with junior defenseman and co-captain Matt Strickland beating Barchard to increase Colby's lead to 2-0.
    In the following minutes, the Jumbos kick-started what would become a weekend of comebacks, notching their first goal on a Resor tally assisted by senior Drew Delorey and Cooper at 5:07. With less than eight minutes to go in the second frame, the Jumbos converted their first of two shorthanded goals on the weekend, riding freshman forward Evan Story's penalty kill score that created a 2-2 tie going into the final period.
    Tufts' young guns on offense continued their impressive play when Cooper beat Mules senior goaltender Dean Feole on assists from Derosa and Resor seven minutes into the third.
    Unlike Saturday's exciting comeback effort, however, this contest ended less favorably. After successfully killing off two penalties midway through the period, the stingy Jumbo defense was unable to keep Colby junior Eric Simmons away from the cage, and he buried one in the back of the net to tie the game at 3-3.
    The deadlocked score would go final even in spite of a scrappy overtime period that featured a myriad of 10-minute misconduct penalties. Still, the Jumbos came away from this weekend's conference games with a much more confident outlook for the long run — especially with the rash of injuries the team has had to deal with over the past handful of games.
    "Guys like Delorey and [freshman] Igor Fedorov are two players who started out the year at forward but have moved down to defense with the injuries we've faced," Antonelli said. "I really can't say enough about them. They've made a big impact for guys who haven't really had much chance to work on defense in the past, and they've stepped right in and helped us put together a good weekend."
    "I think we're going to only get better down the stretch," Murphy added. "We're only going to get healthier, and that's going to allow guys who've been playing out of position for us to move back to their old spots. In the meantime, those guys have simply been doing a great job for us."
    As the team prepares for another crucial weekend of conference games at the Malden Forum, this time against Amherst and Hamilton, the Jumbos have reasons aplenty to be excited with the team's progression this season. Barchard has proven his ability to carry the workload in net, posting 84 stops in this weekend's two games, and the team's young offensive leaders all seem to be maturing into potent goal-scorers.
    "The guys that are our scorers, who happen to be younger guys, are just doing their job really well right now and becoming more comfortable with their roles," Antonelli said. "I think you're seeing the younger guys take on a bit more responsibility, and hopefully, that's going to be a good omen for the future."