The ice hockey team traveled across Massachusetts and then into upstate New York this weekend in search of two NESCAC wins and four key points that would bring them closer to their goal of locking up a home berth in the upcoming conference tournament.
By Sunday night, they were left wondering about what went wrong.
The Jumbos fell 8-0 to Amherst on Saturday, perhaps a predictable result against a team that had already defeated the Jumbos 7-1 on Jan. 13 and is currently ranked third in Div. III. But what's more alarming is the 6-0 defeat they suffered on Sunday at Hamilton, against a Continentals squad that entered the contest at 3-10-2 in conference play.
Following the two losses, the Jumbos are now 8-7-1 in conference play and 11-9-2 overall. With just two regular season NESCAC games remaining, Tufts is clinging to the fourth and final home playoff spot.
"This was an important weekend," freshman defenseman Blake Edwards said. "We didn't really show up for it mentally, and it showed on the ice."
On Sunday, the Jumbos arrived in Clinton, N.Y., after a long bus ride for the second game of the weekend doubleheader. In a tense, penalty-ridden contest, the Jumbos never hit their stride.
Tufts played physically and grew increasingly frustrated as the game wore on, ultimately racking up a number of costly penalties and providing the Continentals with nine power play opportunities, three of which the hosts converted.
"The penalties each night really came from us getting away from our game," Edwards said. "Towards the end of the Hamilton game our frustration had really built up and there were penalties that should not have been taken."
Sophomore Evan Haney gave Hamilton the lead just three minutes into the contest. Senior Sam Choate played the puck to sophomore Bennett Schneider from the right circle and Haney got a hold of it, redirecting it past senior tri-captain goalkeeper Scott Barchard. Sophomore Mike DiMare, the NESCAC's leading scorer, added another first period tally at 12:33 to push the Continentals' lead to two.
In the second period, Hamilton extended its lead to 4-0 behind goals from freshman Pat Curtis and junior Anthony Ruberto. Following Ruberto's score the Jumbos were whistled for three more penalties in the middle stanza and failed to find the back of the net.
The Jumbos' woes continued in the third. While Hamilton's Haney was called for two early penalties, Tufts players were boxed five times in the period, and DiMare and Curtis capitalized, both netting insurance goals with less than five minutes left to play in the game.
"I think a lot of penalties that we took were out of frustration and retaliatory penalties that we can't afford to take," freshman forward Tyler Voigt said. "Those hurt us because it was hard to get into an offensive rhythm when we were constantly a man down."
Tufts finished the game with 43 shots, but Hamilton sophomore keeper Joe Quattrocchi stopped every attempt. Meanwhile, Barchard's 31-save effort was not enough to keep the Jumbos close, particularly as their focus broke away in the closing period.
The Jumbos entered their rematch with Amherst on Saturday riding a six-game undefeated streak, but the Lord Jeffs — who are now 15-1-0 against league opponents — erased the momentum the Jumbos had built up in the previous two weeks. Head coach Brian Murphy's squad struggled to find the back of the net, and they dropped an 8-0 decision to the Lord Jeffs.
"When Amherst was able to get up a few goals, that really hurt us, because with a team as talented as them we didn't want to get into a scoring battle," Edwards said. "Our goal was to keep it a low-scoring close game and pull something out at the end, but we weren't able to do that."
As was the case all weekend, the Jumbos' overly physical play dug them into a hole. Amherst was awarded seven power play opportunities in the game and cashed in three of them.
Early in the opening period, Barchard made several crucial saves to deny the Lord Jeffs an early lead. At the end of the period, however, freshman forward George Pantazopoulos was whistled for hitting from behind, and on the power play Amherst sophomore Brian Safstrom received a pass at the near post and flicked it past Barchard to give the hosts their first goal with just 11 seconds remaining.
"Amherst was able to get a power play goal at the end of the first period that hurt us a bit," Edwards said. "Any time a team can score right before the end of a period it's a real momentum swinger, and unfortunately they were able to do that."
In the middle of the second period, the Lord Jeffs tripled their lead on scores from forwards Eddie Effinger and Jamie Hawkrigg around the seven-minute mark, after Edwards was whistled for a game misconduct and checking from behind to give Amherst a five-on-three advantage.
The Lord Jeffs added a fourth tally at the end of the second period, and kicked off the final stanza with three more in a seven-minute span. Freshman defenseman Aaron Deutsch capped off Amherst's eight-goal effort by lighting the lamp at the 11:53 mark, with an assist from classmate Mike Cashman.
Amherst junior Mike Moher, who was named NESCAC Player of the Week for the second straight week, tallied two assists and a goal in the contest.
With the losses, Tufts dropped from third to fourth, behind Middlebury, in the conference standings.
"The weekend was pretty tiring considering the amount of travel that we had to do," Voigt said. "We need to focus this week and we need to win some games this weekend if we want a home playoff game. The most disappointing part of last weekend is that we didn't gain any points in the standings."
Tufts will host NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Colby this weekend to finish their regular season schedule. Last time the Jumbos played the Polar Bears and Mules, Tufts split the series, falling 5-1 and winning 3-1, respectively. A more consistent effort on the offensive end will be key.
