In every season since it joined the NESCAC, the ice hockey team has never made it past the first round of the conference tournament. This year, as the seventh seed, the Jumbos have a stiff task ahead of them if they hope to break that trend.
This Saturday, Tufts will play second−seeded Middlebury College, a team looking this postseason for its league−best eighth championship. The Panthers have reached the final game of the NESCAC playoffs every year since their inception in 2000. Furthermore, they won seven of the first eight tournaments ever held, their last title coming in the 2006−07 season.
The Jumbos, on the other hand, will be looking for their first−ever win in the tournament, having lost in the opening round each of the four times that the team reached the postseason. In those games, Tufts was outscored by a total of 27−5, including a 4−1 loss to Amherst in last year's quarterfinals.
While playing the role of the underdogs, the Jumbos are far from disheartened and remain ready for the challenge ahead of them.
"We're definitely really excited for this game," sophomore goaltender Scott Barchard said. "They're a great team from top to bottom — from their first line to their fourth line — and they're strong in net, too. We know what to expect from them."
One key to Tufts' success this weekend lies in the secure hands of Barchard, who has been stellar all season−long between the pipes. The Jumbos' netminder posted an impressive 12 wins in this year's play and boasts a Div. III best 0.942 save percentage. Additionally, Barchard's 936 saves this season — over 200 more saves than any other NESCAC goalie — surpassed the school record he set a year ago.
Also on Tufts' side will be a well−tuned specialty teams unit. The Jumbos had converted on nine of their last 18 power−play opportunities coming into Saturday's loss against Div. III powerhouse Norwich, a 7−1 loss to the nation's No. 2−ranked squad.
"The power play has really been picking up lately," junior tri−captain Dylan Cooper said. "We had great success against Southern Maine on their Olympic−size ice last week."
On the other end, Tufts' penalty kills rank as the third−best in the NESCAC at an imposing 86.1 percent success rate. Cooper added that Barchard's great play was a major reason for the team's pristine penalty kill numbers.
History does not favor a Jumbo upset this weekend. In last year's opening weekend, the Panthers scored five goals against Tufts in the first stanza en route to a crushing 9−0 defeat.
However, a final−minute goal by freshman defenseman Trevor John in Tufts' opening game in the current campaign earned the Jumbos a 3−3 tie against the Panthers. This game marked the first point the Jumbos had earned against Middlebury since 1986, following 13 consecutive losses to the Panthers.
In that game on Nov. 20, 2009, Tufts jumped out to a 2−0, second−period lead thanks to goals from juniors Tom Derosa and Zach Diaco. Despite Barchard's 39 saves, the Panthers got three goals in the final stanza, all of which came in a period of just over four minutes.
Coming into Saturday's quarterfinal, Tufts will be facing a Middlebury squad that finished the season strong by winning its last six games — all in−conference matchups — by an average margin of victory of 3.2 goals.
The Jumbos, despite losing to Norwich in their season finale, are a confident bunch after going 4−2−0 in February to claim the seventh seed in the NESCAC.
"We moved the puck really well against Southern Maine on the bigger ice and played a high−tempo game against Norwich," Cooper said. "We have to be the harder−working team. We have to want it more."
In traveling to the Kenyon Arena this weekend, the Jumbos enter a building in which Middlebury is 10−2−2 this season and has an Olympic−sized playing surface, substantially larger than that at Tufts' home arena, the Valley Forum. But Barchard doesn't see the bigger rink at Middlebury as problem, but as an advantage.
"We think we can use it to our advantage," he said. "We'll try to exploit their defense by using one of [our] strengths: our speed up front. We have to be aggressive and take away their time and space, especially in the neutral zone."
