Ice hockey drops first 2 games of season against tough NESCAC opponents

The Tufts hockey team opened its season with two of its toughest opponents in the NESCAC. The Jumbos hit the road to face the Wesleyan Cardinals (1–1–0) on Friday and the Trinity Bantams (2–0) on Saturday. The Jumbos’ very experienced team, returning with 25 players from last year, did not get off to the start that they would have liked as they dropped both of their games this weekend. That being said, the Cardinals and Bantams finished in the top two spots in the conference last season, as they both had 0.778 win percentages for in-conference games, so these teams will likely be some of the Jumbos’ toughest competition all year.

The season-opening weekend concluded with a tough 4–1 loss at the hands of the Bantams in Hartford, Conn.

After being outshot 12–8 in the first period, the Jumbos’ found themselves down 1–0 heading into the second period.

The Bantams were able to slip another shot past sophomore goaltender Josh Sarlo less than 30 seconds into the second period to bump the lead to two. Luckily, several minutes later, junior forward Charley Borek was able to find the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Borek’s goal cut the Bantam’s lead to one.

However, that was as close as the Jumbos’ got to taking the lead from the Bantams, as a Jumbo penalty later in the second period resulted in a power play goal for the Bantams. This gave Trinity a 3–1 lead heading into the third period.

The Jumbos’ special teams play, a point of weakness last season, continued to struggle as the 2019–20 season began.Tufts had to play shorthanded five times in each game, allowing one power play goal in each.On the offensive side, the Jumbos had a total of three power play opportunities, and they were never able to capitalize.

The third period for the Jumbos did not look any better as they played down a man for six of the 20 minutes. Despite being down a man, the Jumbos were able to kill off the penalties effectively. All of this came after Trinity had already found the back of the net for its fourth and final time. With 21 shots throughout the game compared to Trinity’s 37, Tufts did not have the offensive power to hang with its opponents.

The season started on Friday evening with a hard-fought loss at the hands of the Cardinals. The opening minutes of the game proved to be the downfall for the Jumbos as they allowed three goals within the first seven minutes. Tyler Wyatt buried the first two goals of the season for the Cardinals as he found the back of the net less than one minute into the season opener and again five minutes later when Wesleyan had a five on three advantage. The Wesleyan attack did not stop there; just 30 seconds later Alex Giummo tallied his first point in a Wesleyan sweater to give the Cardinals a three-goal lead.

While coming back from a three-goal deficit is never easy, it did not help that Wesleyan had the reigning NESCAC player of the year, Tim Sestak, in the net as goaltender. The Jumbos did not get one past the net until two seconds were left on the clock in the first period. Sophomore forward Justin Brandt slipped the puck by Sestak for the Jumbos’ first goal of the season, cutting the lead to two.

Brant wrote about the contest against Wesleyan in an email to the Daily, specifying how the team was able to get back into the game after the initial deficit.

"We came out a little slow and took a couple of penalties that really put us on our heels down 3-0 early," Brandt said. "The team continued to fight and stay positive knowing we were only one score away from being right back in the game. At the end of the first period, we made a couple of good little passes and I was able to find the rebound from our defensemen’s shot for the first goal."

The momentum continued to swing in the Jumbos’ direction as Brandt found the back of the net for the second time just under three minutes into the second period. Unfortunately, Tufts did not take advantage of two Wesleyan penalties in the first half.Wyatt capitalized on the Jumbos’ inability to add another to the scoreboard as he completed the hat-trick late in the second period to give the Cardinals a 4–2 lead.

The game was not over there, however. Tufts started the third period off strong again as sophomore forward Brendan Skarda scored the second goal of his career to cut the lead to one. Ultimately, the Jumbos did not produce offensively, and the Cardinals iced the game with an empty-net goal in the last minute of the game.

"If you take out the first ten minutes of the game against Wesleyan, I thought we controlled most of the game and executed our systems," Skarda wrote in an email to the Daily. "My goal was a great pass from [sophomore forward] Angus Scott on a 2 on 1 that pulled us within 1. We couldn't find the tying goal the rest of the game but as a team we were proud at how we responded to the early deficit."

Although the Jumbos dropped the game 5–3, they outshot their opponents 31–30. This kind of offensive production was certainly uncharacteristic of the Jumbos’ squad just a season ago. Brandt wrote about the prospects of the season and how the team can improve moving forward.

"Right now, it’s just a matter of scoring our chances," Brandt said. "We have had some really good looks and just haven’t been able to score. I think maintaining in-zone time is something that can always be improved on any powerplay, so continuing to take care of pucks and take the options that their penalty kill is giving us is how we will be successful."

The Jumbos will have their first two games at home this weekend as they welcome the Middlebury Panthers (1–1–0) and the Williams Ephs (2–0–0) on Friday and Saturday respectively.

"Even though we enter the weekend at 0-2, we feel optimistic about where we are at," Skarda said. "We are excited about playing back at our home rink against two other very competitive NESCAC teams."