With a split in its final weekend of regular season play, the hockey team set a new mark for the Tufts program in the NESCAC era. Though the Jumbos fell 7−1 to Norwich on Saturday, their 7−2 victory over Saint Michael's on Friday night secured the Jumbos'12th victory of the season and their 27th point in the standings — the most since they joined the league in 2001.
Tufts capped off the current regular season campaign with a 12−9−3 record, surpassing the 25−point total from 2004−05 that was the program's previous best since joining the NESCAC. And with an 8−8−3 NESCAC/ECAC East record, the Jumbos also notched 19 in−conference points, the most since they joined the league.
"The talent on this team has improved and we now feel like we can play against all the better teams," said coach Brian Murphy, who has been at the helm since 1998. "It's nice to have these milestones, but our real goal this year was to get into the playoffs, and now also to win that first playoff game."
Despite racking up new benchmarks over the course of the year, the Jumbos were unable to end the regular season on a high note as they were trampled by nationally ranked No. 2 Norwich on Saturday, 7−1.
Early on, the Jumbos did not seem fazed by the Cadets' impressive one−loss record. Norwich got on the board first when freshman Kyle Thomas banged in his 19th goal of the season at the 6:43 mark of the opening period, but Tufts junior Tom Derosa knotted things up just 34 seconds later with his 14th of the year for a team−leading 30th point. Unfortunately for the Jumbos, though, the period of competitiveness was short−lived.
Just 36 second later, Cadets freshman Scott Schroeder gave Norwich back the lead at 2−1, and it was all Cadets on the ice from then on.
"We weren't as consistent as we wanted to be," Murphy said. "We did a good job in the neutral zone ... but we need to be better at getting pucks to the net."
Bombarding Tufts with 22 shots on goal in the second period, the Cadets added four more goals to their tally before the end of the stanza, notching one more in the third for the final six−point margin. Thomas, who scored two goals and registered one assist on the day, and classmate Blake Forkey, who scored a total of one goal and three assists, were the Cadets' offensive leaders on Saturday as Norwich out−shot the Jumbos 50−14.
The Jumbos, though, were not discouraged by the outcome against one of the best teams in the nation.
"The score and shots don't reflect how well we think we played [against Norwich], especially in the first and second period," junior tri−captain Dylan Cooper said. "Even though it wasn't a good game on the scoreboard, it was good to get used to that pace of play."
"Playing Norwich made us realize how it's going to be in the playoffs," sophomore goaltender Scott Barchard added. "These teams are at the top of their game, and we're going to have to be at the top of ours."
Senior Jay McNamara minded the net for Tufts on Senior Day. Making the second start of his career, McNamara tallied 41 saves before being relieved by sophomore Evan Koleini in the final three minutes.
The Jumbos fared much better on Friday against the Saint Michael's Purple Knights. With a Derosa hat trick, a dominant three−goal second period and a six−goal, unanswered scoring streak, Tufts overcame a closely contested first period to comfortably walk away with the 7−2 win.
"We came out ready to play," Murphy said. "It was a game at home that we felt like we had to win and we did. We wanted to clinch that [No. 7] spot so we wouldn't have to worry about it the next day."
Tied 1−1 at the first intermission, the Jumbos and Purple Knights remained deadlocked until halfway through the contest, when Derosa provided the spark Tufts was looking for. At 11:53 of the middle stanza, Derosa delivered the first of his three strikes on the evening, a power−play goal assisted by classmate Andy Davis. Two minutes later fellow junior Lindsay Walker found the back of the net on another man−advantage opportunity, lifting the Jumbos to a 3−1 lead that they would not relinquish.
"Everyone just started to realize that this is our home rink and worked extra hard to make [Saint Michael's] uncomfortable and not give them a chance," Barchard said.
Derosa scored his second goal with under three minutes remaining in the period to make the score 4−1 as Tufts went on to outshoot Saint Michael's 18−6 in the stanza and 46−28 for the game.
The Jumbos added three more goals to their tally to make it a 7−1 game before Saint Michael's finally got back on the board in the waning minutes of action. Junior Zach Diaco's power−play goal at 11:09, which made it a 6−1 game at the time, was Tufts' fourth power−play tally of the game — they went 4−for−10 on the day — and Diaco's team−leading 15th goal of the season.
Barchard racked up 25 saves compared to one goal against in 55 minutes of play before Koleini relieved him with five minutes remaining, surrendering one goal on a Purple Knight's power play.
"Our power play is doing really well," Cooper said. "That's going to be important next weekend — and staying out of the box. If we can stay out of the box and capitalize on our chances, we can do well [in the playoffs]."
With the final weekend of the regular season behind them, all that remains for the Jumbos is to rest and fine−tune their play, because come Saturday, it's win or go home. The Jumbos travel to Kenyan Arena to take on NESCAC No. 2 Middlebury in round one of the NESCAC tournament. Unlike their season opener, which ended knotted at 3−3, there are no ties now.
"We understand now that it's going to take a full 60 minutes, because there is no letting up against these teams," Barchard said. "It's just about slowing down and playing our game, not worrying so much about what [the other team] is going to do."
