After thrashing Suffolk University 7'minus;1 last Tuesday, the Tufts hockey team hoped to move up in the NESCAC standings in key matchups against conference rivals Bowdoin College and Colby College this weekend. But a 3'minus;2 loss to Bowdoin and 5'minus;3 loss to Colby promptly dispatched the team back down into the league cellar.
Tufts had a difficult time containing both Bowdoin and Colby's offensive attacks early. The Jumbos ceded the first goal in both weekend matchups. On Friday night, the Polar Bears' Kit Smith opened the scoring with a hard wrist shot five minutes into the game, generated by a clean faceoff win by center Leland Fidler. Bowdoin kept up the offensive pressure in the first period, with Aaron O'Callahan firing a loose puck past Tufts goaltender sophomore Scott Barchard.
Late in the period, the Jumbos began to find their stride, notching two power'minus;play goals with less than three minutes to play in the opening period. Junior Zach Diaco laced a pass to classmate Andy Davis, who finished the play to cut Bowdoin's lead in half.
Just a minute later, junior Tom Derosa scored his fourth goal in two games to send the game into the first intermission at 2'minus;2. Freshman defenseman Trevor John picked up an assist on each of the Jumbos' goals.
The second period was void of scoring but certainly not without action, as both teams earned three power'minus;play chances. Though neither unit was able to cash in on the advantage, the Polar Bears outshot the Jumbos 24'minus;9 in the middle stanza, forcing Barchard to deflect a bevy of shots to keep his squad in the game.
Just two minutes into the final period, Bowdoin's Ryan Blossom deflected an Erik Olson shot past Barchard, giving the Polar Bears a 3'minus;2 lead and consequently the victory. Tufts killed off a penalty several minutes later, before earning a power'minus;play of their own with five minutes remaining.
'I thought in the first game we took some bad penalties. Bowdoin was a very offensive team, and they played a system that we really hadn't seen from any other team this year,' junior tri'minus;captain Dylan Cooper said.
Bowdoin's Chris Rossi made 26 saves on Friday, including an impressive pad save on Tufts junior Conor Pieri, who led a dangerous odd'minus;man rush with only a couple of minutes remaining in regulation. Barchard finished with 46 saves against Bowdoin, but his efforts were not strong enough to save the Jumbos from defeat.
'The biggest time to score is the first five minutes and the last five minutes. Goals then are big momentum changers,' Barchard said. 'We definitely need to come out stronger in the first five and be ready to play a full sixty minutes once the puck drops.'
Tufts faced a Colby team on Saturday that came into the game unbeaten in its last 12 and exited the contest upping the total to 13, six games behind the school's all'minus;time record.
The teams traded goals early, with Mike Doherty scoring for the Mules in the first minute of the game and Diaco tying the game for the Jumbos less than two minutes later, but Colby regained the lead at the 6:53 mark of the first period on a goal by Tom McGinn.
Colby's Nick Kondiles thwarted Tufts' hopes for a second'minus;period comeback, scoring a goal just 30 seconds into the period, and his assist on Michael Smigelski's goal at 16:38 of the second gave the Mules a 4'minus;1 lead.
With two minutes left to play in the period, Jumbos junior Mike Vitale scored to reduce Colby's lead to two goals going into the second intermission, but the margin proved too insurmountable for Tufts.
'Colby was disciplined, and they all played well as a team together,' Cooper said. 'It's definitely tough losing NESCAC games, but we're back at home now for a couple weekends, so we're looking forward to that. We're still in good contention to make the playoffs, so we're optimistic about the last few games.'
Jesse Lehman tacked on yet another early'minus;period goal for Colby, stretching the Mule lead to 5'minus;2 just 1:33 into the final stanza.
Though John answered at the 3:54 mark, the Jumbos were unable to sneak a shot past Colby netminder Cody McKinney in the final 16 minutes of play. Barchard made 30 saves in the loss, while McKinney stopped 16 shots for the Mules.
The two losses drop the Jumbos to 4'minus;6'minus;1 in NESCAC/ECAC East play, but the team will have a chance to rebound when it takes on ECAC East opponents Castleton and Skidmore next weekend at Valley Forum II.
'We're not pushing the panic button now, we just need to get back to basics and that starts tomorrow in practice,' Barchard said. 'We got on a roll in the beginning of the year; we're just trying to get back on that roll.'
