It was a tough weekend for the ice hockey team as the Jumbos dropped two games to NESCAC opponents Trinity and Wesleyan while still trying to keep their playoff hopes alive with just two weekends to go in the regular season.
The Jumbos fell 3-2 to last-place Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon, dropping the squad's road record to 3-9 on the season.
The Jumbos kept the Cardinals close through the first two frames, never falling more than a goal behind but, just 1:05 into the final stanza, Wesleyan sophomore Dan Sullivan drove home the game-winner for the Cardinals' fourth win in a row over Tufts.
"It was one of those games where, going into the third tied, they got a goal early and just deflated us," junior co-captain Dave Antonelli said.
The Jumbos made a spirited effort to get back in the game, peppering Cardinals senior goaltender Mike Palladino with 13 shots in the period, but to no avail. Even pulling freshman goaltender Scott Barchard with 1:15 to go for an extra man wasn't enough for the Jumbos to crack Palladino.
The momentum was never in the Jumbos' corner during the tough loss as they couldn't gain a single advantage in the score at any point in the game.
The Cardinals were first to strike when sophomore Sam Robinson beat Barchard with a wrister at 8:38 of the first. Barchard posted a solid 14 saves in the first period alone to keep the game close, as the Jumbos were outshot 15 to nine on the period. He finished the game with 43 stops.
On the power play just before the midway point of the second period, the Jumbos got even with a goal from sophomore leading scorer Tom Derosa for his 12th of the season. But the Jumbos fell behind again just over five minutes later when junior Woody Redpath buried a short-handed goal.
Despite its recent struggles, the Jumbos' power play continued to mesh well, and freshman Nick Resor knotted the score again for the Jumbos at 15:59 of the second with his 10th of the year. It was the 15th power-play goal of the year for the Jumbos' man-advantage unit, which has posted a success rate of .155.
"[Sunday] we got fortunate bounces," Derosa said. "The power play is getting back to where it should be."
But success on a few fronts was not enough for the ambitious Jumbos squad.
"We are not interested in just keeping games close," coach Brian Murphy said.
Saturday night's contest with defending NESCAC champion Trinity was a story of frustration for the Jumbos, who have not once beaten the Bantams since joining the league.
The 3-0 loss was by no means a blowout, but it was certainly lopsided, even if the scoreboard did not show it. By the end of the game, Barchard had posted 50 saves while the Jumbos were held to just 20 shots of their own.
"We struggled on the power play and we were struggling on offense to begin with," Murphy said. "[Trinity] played well. Their goalie did a pretty good job, and we didn't get enough offense."
The struggling Jumbos' offense was further hindered by an unusually high number of penalties, with the team taking 13 trips to the box for a total of 29 penalty minutes.
"There were a few calls that were a bit questionable, but we need to keep our sticks more under control," Murphy said.
"We play a pretty physical style, and the refs were getting pretty picky with what they were calling," Antonelli added. "It sort of snowballed in the third period."
The Jumbos' large penalty account cost them on both ends of the ice as it also resulted in all three of Trinity's goals. It took the Bantams until 14:06 of the first frame to crack Barchard, with the opening goal coming from freshman Paul Jaskot. Senior Chris Powers added two more power-play goals, one each in the second and third periods, to boost the fourth-place Bantams to their 10th conference win of the season.
Trinity took a major blow early on when, just 3:52 into the game, starting goalie sophomore Wesley Vesprini was injured and had to leave the game. Fortunately for the Bantams, junior Joseph Hanson was solid in relief, posting 17 saves to keep Tufts off the board.
"[Vesprini]'s one of the best goalies in the league, and then he got hurt and we didn't capitalize enough on that," Antonelli said. "We need to recommit to being intense in front of the net."
Now 8-11-1 overall and 4-10-1 in conference play, the Jumbos are eighth in the NESCAC standings. With the top eight of the conference's 10 teams eligible for the playoffs, the team's postseason hopes are still alive with four games left on the schedule. "My class hasn't been [to NESCACs] yet, and the seniors went their freshman year," Antonelli said. "It's been a while, so guys are hungry. We don't need anything else to motivate us. We're the type of team that, if we do get in, no one's going to want to play us because we've demonstrated that we can beat anyone."
The Jumbos return to the Malden Forum this weekend to take on Salem State and Southern Maine in an attempt to gain valuable points in the standings and lock up a playoff spot.
"We have to start playing playoff hockey right now," Derosa said. "It's nice that we don't have to take any more long road trips. We have to take advantage of this home weekend."
