As the temperature plummets and winter comes into full force, the ice hockey team is heading down the home stretch of its season and trying to qualify for the NESCAC Tournament. The team, however, is mired in an eight−game losing streak, which has coincided with the loss of one of its key players: junior goalie and quad−captain Scott Barchard.
Barchard, like the Jumbos, had a strong start to the season, posting a 2.66 goals−against average in his first three games. But in the fourth game of the year, a Nov. 27 matchup with Brockport at Castleton, Barchard injured his ankle, forcing coach Brian Murphy to turn to Barchard's backup, junior Evin Koleini.
Although the injury initially appeared to be just a minor strain, Barchard's ankle now requires surgery, which will likely cause him to miss the rest of the season.
"It's a tough situation in the first few minutes, coming in off the bench with very little time to prepare," said Koleini, who up until that point had not played at all during the season, "But after the first few minutes you get warm and into the flow of the game."
Even though Koleini has played well, and Tufts won their next three games after he was inserted between the pipes, the writing was already on the wall: Over that three−game period, Tufts' goals−against average bumped up to 3.33, and the team only found success by scoring enough goals to make up for defensive lapses.
Since a Dec. 11 game against Conn. College, however, the Jumbos have failed to score more than three goals in one game and have allowed 4.75 goals per game. The results — eight straight losses — are not surprising.
"We've lost a lot of players up front too, so it has been more difficult to score," said Koleini, who now has a 3−6−1 record as a starter. "We just have to work harder on both ends."
Barchard had been one of the league's elite shot−stoppers over the past two seasons. Thrust into the starting lineup since his arrival on the Hill, he made 50 saves in each of the Jumbos' last two tournament appearances (both first−round losses). In 2009−10, Barchard was named to the American Hockey Coaches Association All−American Second Team after leading the nation with 986 saves and a .939 save percentage.
But his absence, and resulting loss of leadership and knowledge on the ice, has Tufts playing markedly poorer as a unit since Barchard went down.
"It has been tough without Scott, but we all need to play better," Koleini said. "We just need to tighten up our offense and defense."
At this point, there is little the Jumbos can do about the situation other than trust Koleini and continue to work hard to end their slide down the standings.
With two more critical ECAC road games this weekend, against Castleton and Skidmore, Tufts has no time to feel sorry for itself as it looks to finish the season strongly in the remaining eight games.
