Jumbos Icemen have no choice but to win

With a win and a loss this weekend, the men's hockey team made one thing abundantly clear; it has a difficult time maintaining a level of consistency. After mounting a rabid comeback against Salem State only to lose 6-5 in overtime, the Jumbos came back Saturday and hung on in a 4-3 triumph over Southern Maine.

With Middlebury, Colby, Bowdoin and Trinity appearing to have a firm lock on the top four spots in the NESCAC tournament, the final four spots in the eight team tournament are certainly up in the air. At the moment, the Jumbos are holding onto the seventh slot, which is a vast improvement from last season's last place squad that missed the playoffs completely. The reality of the situation is such that the Jumbos could finish fifth but they could also find themselves out of the race completely as the last place team in the conference, Connecticut College, is only four points behind them.

"The past couple of weeks have been tough," senior co-captain Mike Carceo said. "Hopefully we can use Saturday's win as a stepping stone towards more consistency for the rest of the season."

While all games against ECAC East teams are also included in the conference record, the Jumbos most important remaining games will be against key NESCAC opponents Hamilton, Amherst, Wesleyan and Trinity. At the moment, fifth place Hamilton's fifteen points are only three more than the Jumbos twelve. Amherst and Wesleyan are two teams that have struggled this year and are currently behind the Jumbos in the standings. Trinity is the Jumbos last game of the year, where they will travel to Hartford. The Bantams have proven themselves to be one of the elite teams in the Northeast this season, so a Tufts victory would be monumental.

Currently, as the seventh seed in the conference, Tufts would face Bowdoin. After last weekend's flukish shellacking at the hands of the Polar Bears, the Jumbos would probably rather move up in the standings and go against a team like Colby. The White Mules were a team that Tufts matched up well against in last Saturday's 3-3 tie.

After winning three in a row after break, the Jumbos had yet to win another game until Saturday's victory. As close as they have stayed with most of their opponents, they have not had that killer instinct that characterizes successful teams.

"We aren't playing as consistently as we would like to right now," sophomore forward John Hurd said. "In our league, anybody can make a run, so it's important that we hold on to leads when we get them."

On Saturday at Malden Arena, the squad had Southern Maine against the ropes as they were up 4-1 heading into the third period. But the Jumbos were out shot 15-6 in the third period, lucky to only give up two more goals and escape with a 4-3 win.

On Friday night the team played the role of rally-er rather than the one being rallied against. After jumping out to an early 2-1 lead over Salem State, the Jumbos stayed true to their recent form and did not add any insurance goals. Salem State rebounded to score four unanswered goals in the second and third periods to go up 5-2 and seemingly leave the Jumbos for dead. But with their backs against the wall, the Jumbos answered with three goals in twelve minutes of play in the third. But all good things come to an end, as their momentum could not carry them into overtime, where Salem State's Wendall Richards scored on a breakaway for a 6-5 win.

"Every game is a must win now," Carceo said. "We have to keep coming up big against the teams we're supposed to beat."

In that third period against Salem State, Tufts was clicking on all cylinders. This is not to say that the Jumbos caught lightning in a bottle, but they played some of their best hockey of the year. Such an effort will be what the Jumbos need if they want to excel in the playoffs. But they are going to have to get there first.

"We have to get points the next couple of weeks," Hurd said. "We want to be more comfortable going into the playoffs. We hold our own destiny."