The second half of a four-game homestand did not treat the ice hockey team well this weekend, as it fell to NESCAC rivals Amherst and Hamilton on Friday and Saturday at Valley Forum II. The back-to-back losses mark the first blemishes on the Jumbos' previously undefeated home record.
Saturday afternoon's 3-2 loss to Hamilton was a devastating one for Tufts, as it lifted the Continentals to two games ahead of the Jumbos in the NESCAC standings, knocking the Jumbos down to No. 8 with a 4-8-1 conference record and to 7-9-1 overall.
It was a tight contest the entire game, with the score knotted at 2-2 until the second half of the final frame and the final shot total equal at 35 apiece.
But with 8:28 remaining in the game and Hamilton on the man advantage, Continental junior forward Harry Biggs was able to fight his way through traffic and stuff the game-winner past the Jumbos' freshman goaltender Scott Barchard for his second goal of the period.
The one-goal lead was Hamilton's third of the game, but it was this one that would seal the victory, as the Jumbos were unable to battle back despite a few last-ditch efforts to tie the score. The Jumbos peppered Hamilton's sophomore goalie Mark Donovan with 15 shots in the final frame, but his 14 saves -- one coming, luckily for him, on a puck that sailed just inches over the crossbar with 25 seconds to go in the game -- proved enough to hold the lead.
"It's like a sickness, almost," junior co-captain David Antonelli said of the team's offensive struggles over the weekend. "When you're not getting chances, then you're in trouble. But if you're getting chances, like we are, you're going to start to score."
The Jumbos' troubles Saturday began early in the game, as the home squad came out flat in the first period, forcing Barchard to come up with big saves on multiple occasions to keep them in the game. The Jumbos' weak neutral zone play early on in the contest allowed the Continentals to walk in on Barchard too easily, often on odd-man rushes. But thanks to Barchard's nine first-period saves, the Jumbos went into the break down just 1-0, the only offensive action coming on Hamilton junior forward Jerome Wallace's power-play goal at 14:38.
"We didn't come out in the first period," coach Brian Murphy said. "We wasted 20 minutes [Saturday]."
"In the last two games especially, our problem was our start," Antonelli added. "We're putting ourselves in holes early in games. Bad starts force us to take chances that we wouldn't [take] if we're up a goal or it's even."
As the second period opened, it looked like the Jumbos' struggles were going to continue. But just 30 seconds in, Barchard was forced to come up with a huge pad save when the Continentals attacked with another odd-man rush that let them set up a goal-worthy feed right through the slot. The key save seemed to bolster the Jumbos' confidence, and just over a minute later they were back in the game.
At 1:48, sophomore Zach Diaco converted on passes from freshman Evan Story and sophomore Mike Vitale, carrying the puck to the goal himself and getting Donovan to commit on the near post before dragging it through the goalmouth and lifting it over the sprawled goaltender and into the open net.
The Jumbos had two power-play opportunities in the second period and got a number of good looks, but they failed to capitalize on any of them. They went just 1-for-6 with a man advantage on the night, adding to their season-long struggle on the power play that has led to just a .159 success rate.
"We need to continue to improve on our power play," Murphy said. "We need to get shots on net and rush their cage, and we need to play more simply. We tried to get too cute at times, and that led to turnover opportunities for [Hamilton]."
The third period was the most offense-oriented, and the Continentals wasted no time getting underway when Biggs converted on a Tufts offensive zone turnover and scored short-handed at 3:34 to give the Continentals a 2-1 lead, further exposing the Jumbos' struggling special teams unit.
But just 35 seconds later, Tufts freshman Nick Resor netted his eighth goal of the year to even the score again. With the Jumbos on the power play, sophomore defenseman Fredrik Mellgren fired a shot from the point that led to freshman Matt Amico recovering the rebound before Resor found the back of the twine.
Friday's 3-1 loss to national No. 1 Amherst was much more lopsided, and with the shot count at 54 to 25 in the Lord Jeffs' favor, the tilted ice had Barchard standing on his head to make a career-high 51 saves and keep the score respectable. Barchard eclipsed his collegiate-best save mark of 45, set last Saturday in a 5-3 victory over Bowdoin.
Senior forward Will Collins got the action going for Amherst at 6:51 of the first period with a short-handed goal, the team's second of the season. Despite out-shooting the Jumbos 20-8 in the period, the Lord Jeffs were able to capitalize only one more time when senior forward Ted Vickers netted a power-play goal at 12:15 to take a 2-0 lead.
Senior defenseman Rylan Burns extended the Lord Jeffs' lead to 3-0 early in the middle frame with his first goal of the year at 3:52. But three goals was more than the Lord Jeffs would need, thanks to a powerhouse defense that has allowed just 22 goals through 17 games this season.
"[Amherst is] the best defensive team in the league and one of the best in the country," Murphy said. "They have two excellent goalies and an excellent playing style in their end."
The Amherst defense stifled the Jumbos until 11:16 into the second period, when Story put in his sixth goal of the season with assists from junior forward Cory Korchin and Diaco. The lone Jumbo goal would be the last offensive action of the game, as the goaltenders stole the show in the final frame with Barchard posting 15 stops and Donovan nine.
The Jumbos will look to turn things around on Tuesday night as they make the short trip to Suffolk.
"We need to get back to business," Barchard said. "We are in a rough spot right now. We haven't gotten the bounces lately, but we will with hard work."
"[The losses] hurt, but certainly we're not going to hang our heads," Murphy said. We still have seven games to play."
