After two weeks featuring many challenging NESCAC matchups, Tufts ice hockey went on the road to play the North Country Tournament in Canton, N.Y. Tufts won the tournament, winning both games by a solid margin.
“It’s good for the confidence of our team to just get everyone going and get trending in the right direction before [winter] break,” junior forward Max Resnick said.
Tufts won their first game against SUNY Canton 4–2. The Jumbos started fast with a goal by Resnick, assisted by first-year defenseman Drew Pitts and sophomore defenseman Sylas Oberting, around the two-minute mark.
“The first goal was a really nice pass from Drew Pitts, I was sitting in the slot, wide open, and just had to shoot,” Resnick explained.
SUNY Canton tied up the game with a goal 15 minutes into the first period. The Jumbos answered three minutes later with a goal from sophomore forward Trace Norwell. Norwell explained that his linemates — sophomore forward Jon Horn and senior forward Brennan Horn — were instrumental in his goals.
“My linemates really moved the puck well,” Norwell said. “We seem to be finding our stride right now. I was fortunate enough where I got a couple lucky bounces, a couple good passes, and was able to help the team out.”
There were no goals in the second period, and Tufts took a 2–1 lead to the third period. The Kangaroos tied the game on the power play in the third period, but the Jumbos didn’t let that tie stay on the board for long. Less than a minute after SUNY Canton’s goal, Tufts went on the power play and shifted the momentum. Resnick scored his second goal of the game, with assists by junior forward Cole Dubicki and senior forward Tyler Sedlak.
“We were moving it around well and had them running around,” Resnick said. “One of their guys blocked a shot, went down, and I had a wide-open lane and shot it.”
To bring home the win against Rivier University, Jon Horn scored on an empty net to push Tufts to a 4–2 victory that would bring them to the championship game. The game also started off with a relatively quick goal, this time by senior forward Harrison Bazianos.
“[Bazianos] having a quick, early goal got us in the right mindset and allowed us to play aggressive and get everybody in the game,” Norwell said.
The Jumbos continued their advantage in the second period, with two goals scored by Norwell, both assisted by Jon Horn and Brennan Horn.
Though the Jumbos didn’t score in the third period, they kept their lead, only letting up one goal to the Raiders. This was in large part due to junior goalie Gustave Bylin’s excellent goaltending. He had 24 saves in each game last weekend, with 12 saves in the third period against Rivier, as Tufts clinched the tournament with the win.
“[Bylin] had a bunch of key saves, especially in the championship game,” Resnick said. “In the third period, we were getting peppered, and he definitely stood on his head and kept it a two-goal lead,” Resnick said.
Norwell explained that as the season goes on, the Jumbos have continued to improve in working together as a team.
“I think we played better as a team: we were just a little bit more fluid, our goaltending was a little better from last weekend, our forwards played a little bit quicker and our [defense] moved the puck a little quicker, so just overall as a whole, we just played a little bit cleaner, played our roles a little bit better,” Norwell said.
While the team has seen improvement overall, Tufts will focus on cleaning up their game to make fewer mistakes on the ice.
“I think right now, the theme in our locker room is that a lot of the big stuff — we’re really good at it,” Norwell said. “So cleaning up the small stuff, making sure we’re doing the small details right, executing them in a good fashion is probably the biggest thing.”
Resnick explained that this will be especially important in tighter games, where little mistakes can change the entire outcome.
“It’s all just details — little details that we need to practice and get better at. They build up over time, and they’re habits that lead to mistakes, and mistakes lead to goals against.” Resnick said.
As the Jumbos work to play a cleaner game, Norwell is hopeful about the team’s positive improvement.
“We’re continuing to develop and continuing to grow,” Norwell said. “We’re just getting better and better … so hopefully we continue that trend and just have everyone playing the best they can play when we need them to.”
Resnick explained that this tournament cemented Tufts’s confidence in their ability to have a strong finish in their games.
“In the first game, we had a goal lead with eight minutes left, and in the second, we had a two-goal lead the whole [last] period,” Resnick said. “Last year, closing out games was a big thing, and [with] the confidence of knowing that with eight minutes left, we can roll everybody, everyone can play and we can shut this team down and come out of here with a win,” Resnick said.
Tufts will play two NESCAC games on the road against Colby on Friday and Bowdoin on Saturday.
“[We have] two big games before we go on break here, and we’re super excited about it,” Resnick said. “We definitely need to play better, and it will be a good test. But I’m excited about the weekend, and hopefully, we come out on top,” Resnick said.
