The Tufts ice hockey team started their season with split results, showcasing both their strengths — particularly their returning offense — and some areas for improvement that the team hopes to clean up this season.
Tufts opened the weekend against Wesleyan on Friday night with a 5–3 win.
“Friday night, we blocked a bunch of shots, and I thought we were loud and super competitive, which is what you need to be,” junior forward Max Resnick said.
The Jumbos pushed a fast-paced game with sophomore forward Jon Horn scoring two goals in the first period. From there, the team didn’t let up. First-year defenseman Bryceon Lago and senior forward Harrison Bazianos each scored a goal in the second period. Horn scored again in the third period, completing a hat trick.
“I think against Wesleyan, we came out pretty hot. We played a ton of offense and our penalty kill was outstanding,” senior forward Tyler Sedlak said.
In this game, Horn scored three goals and had an assist on Lago’s goal.
“Jon Horn, my linemate, had four [goals] in the Wesleyan game. He had a hat trick, so obviously he had a spectacular weekend,” sophomore forward Trace Norwell said.
In their game against No. 4 ranked Trinity on Saturday, Tufts wasn’t able to keep Trinity’s offense at bay. Sedlak explained that though the Jumbos played a strong game, and created opportunities, especially on offense, they made mistakes that cost them possession too often. Defensive miscues led to scoring opportunities that the Bantams were able to take advantage of.
“I think our main thing is continuing to focus on our defensive zone, and not beating ourselves and giving them chances that they didn’t necessarily make a crazy play for,” Sedlak said. “Limiting those this year is definitely going to be a key.”
Even though the Jumbos made some mistakes, they still played with offensive speed and scored three goals. Sedlak scored twice and Resnick scored once.
“Even [Saturday], when times probably weren’t going our way, I still thought we fought back and had some good pushes,” Resnick said.
The majority of offensive players from last season are returning from last season, helping bring experience to Tufts hockey.
“We were able to maintain a lot of forwards to come back this year, so I think we have some confidence. We’re shooting the puck, doing the simple things correctly and thankfully, it’s just going in and going our way right now,” Norwell said.
On the other hand, a large portion of their defense is new. Sedlak explained that he’s excited about the potential of the new first-years, but there’s still room for improvement.
“We have a really good freshman class coming in, and a lot of them will be filling most of our defensive core,” Sedlak said. “We have plenty of good forwards, but it’s just making sure that we’re responsible in the [defensive] zone, and if we give ourselves a chance, then we’re going to win a lot of games.”
In general, the team hopes to focus on making fewer defensive mistakes and giving the opposing team fewer opportunities to score off of a mistake, Resnick explained.
“We have a lot of room to grow, and we have a lot of young [defenders] playing. … Saturday was a good learning point for them, and it’s a long season, so it’s okay to make some mistakes. But we have to build off of it, and I know we’ll be better next week, so I’m excited,” Resnick said.
Another thing that Tufts is hoping to work on is playing a cleaner game in terms of penalties. The Jumbos had eight penalties on Friday and five on Saturday. The Jumbos have a strong penalty kill, but even the best PKs aren’t perfect. Last weekend, Wesleyan scored twice on the power play and Trinity scored once on the power play.
“One thing that we need to do going forward that we did not do well is we need to stay out of the box because we should not be giving them that many chances on the power play,” Sedlak said.
Last year, Tufts made it to the NESCAC championship game but lost to Trinity 4–0. This season, the Jumbos have their eyes set on a NESCAC championship.
“Win a NESCAC. That’s the message from day one. I think we’re good enough, and I think we’ve proved that. We came close last year. So I think it’s kind of the only thing we have our mind on is to just win the NESCAC championship,” Norwell said.
The Jumbos hope to pick up where they left off last season, and Norwell believes that their first two games were the perfect catalyst for continued growth and improvement as a team.
“It shows that last year wasn’t a fluke. We’re going to start off strong, and we’re going to continue with the growth and the pace that we had last year and hopefully bring that to the next level this year,” Norwell said.
Hockey will have their first home games of the season next weekend at Malden Valley Forum, against Middlebury College on Friday and Williams College on Saturday. Resnick explained that despite their broader season goals, Tufts is going to take the season one game at a time, starting with Friday’s matchup with Middlebury.
“Our goal next week is to win the first period on Friday and then win five more throughout the weekend,” Resnick said.
