After losing eight consecutive games, the hockey team was looking for a desperately needed change in results this weekend as they took to the road to face ECAC East rivals Castleton and Skidmore. What they got was more of the same: two more blowout defeats and a losing streak that has now reached double digits.
The doubleheader weekend started on Friday with a matchup against Castleton College, which was riding a streak of its own: The Spartans had won nine straight coming into the game and had a 15-2-0 record. So it was hardly a surprise when Castleton came out firing with four goals in the first period, two of which came from sophomore forward Ben Schoeneberger.
After Schoeneberger opened the game's scoring with a sharp-angled shot at the 8:01 mark of the first period, Tufts allowed Castleton freshman forward Ross Herzog to swoop in and double the advantage just 37 seconds later, making it even more difficult for the Jumbos to recover. Freshman forward Garrett Sider was able to tally a goal for Tufts, his second of the season, but the Jumbos went into the locker room down 4-1 and with another loss staring them in the face.
"Castleton just plays such a physical, hard-nosed style," senior quad-captain Dylan Cooper said. "There's really nobody else like that in the league, so it's hard to get accustomed to it."
The rest of the game was more of the same. Although senior quad-captain Tom DeRosa got the Jumbos within two goals with only 1:19 gone in the second period, the Spartans quickly put the game away as sophomore forward Josh Harris scored two goals just five minutes apart to give his team a 6-2 advantage. Tufts then put in its backup goalie, freshman Brian Phillips, and both sides added garbage time goals to finish the game with a score of 8-3.
Tufts then went to Saratoga Springs on Saturday to face Skidmore and try to win its first game since Dec. 4. The Jumbos instead slumped to their tenth straight defeat at the hands of the Thoroughbreds, a team with a sub-.500 record. The matchup was competitive until early in the third period, with Tufts trailing by only one goal as late as 17:59 into the second frame.
After Skidmore forward Alex Mykolenko opened the scoring, Tufts senior quad-captain defenseman Andy Davis equalized, providing a much-needed reply for the mercurial Tufts offense.
While the Jumbos played better than in Friday's game, a Skidmore goal at the 2:42 mark of the third period made the score 5-2 and sealed the Jumbos' fate. The 6-2 final marked the fourth time this season that Tufts has been defeated by four goals or more, which is unexpected for a team that began the season with a 4-2-1 record.
Tufts exhibited all of the signs that have sunk them to the bottom of the conference standings: poor team defense in front of junior goalie Evin Koleini, a sputtering offense and the inability to mount comebacks after getting behind early in games. But amid this losing streak, the team's captain is staying positive.
"We just seem to be getting the tough bounces right now and it can be demoralizing," Cooper said. "It's just bad luck, but when you play the way we have been playing sometimes it just feels like the deck is stacked against you."
Next, Tufts will have a pair of matchups in Connecticut against Wesleyan and Trinity on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, respectively. The team still has a chance of making the playoffs and at the very least will want to end its season on a positive note by breaking its losing streak that has now lasted two months.
"We can still make it to the playoffs if we perform," Cooper said. "The two games this weekend are critical."
