Ice Hockey | Jumbos fail to get over the hump in loss to Camels

    Despite a hiatus of nearly two months from the grueling grind of competitive NESCAC play, the reeling ice hockey team found no relief in finally getting another chance to face a conference foe.
    Coming into Tuesday night's contest against Conn. College, the Jumbos were hoping to rebound from a recent three-game skid that saw the goal-starved team outpaced by a
20-5 margin.
    But it was the Camels who earned the key 3-1 victory at Dayton Arena in New London, Conn., perhaps turning their season in a better direction and accumulating some crucial momentum heading into the heart of the team's conference schedule.
    Entering Tuesday night's tilt, the Camels boasted a solid 6-1-1 record when taking the ice at their friendly confines. The hosts wasted no time getting ahead, as freshman forward Julien Boutet snuck a shot by Jumbo rookie netminder Scott Barchard from the slot just 13 seconds into the game. At the other end of the period, Boutet almost put home the game's second tally, but the Barchard was able to glove Boutet's bid this time around, holding the Camel lead
to 1-0.
    Midway through the second frame, Boutet struck again, this time on a man advantage, feeding junior forward Brett Moore in the slot for the team's first of two power play scores on the day. Moore had a hand in all three Camel goals on the evening, assisting on the team's other two scores as well.
    It remained a 2-0 Camel lead until nearly six minutes into the final period, when the Conn. College power play was able to convert for the second time on the night. Junior forward Ryan Howarth redirected a shot by junior forward Trevor Bradley, beating Barchard just inside the right post and pushing the Jumbo deficit to 3-0.
    "They weren't really doing anything specific [on the power play]," sophomore forward Tom Derosa said. "It was just a few bad bounces out in front of the goal that they were able to beat Scotty on. Normally he makes those saves, but it was just one of those nights where the bounces weren't going
our way."
    Derosa, the Jumbos' points leader, led the response mustered by the Tufts man-advantage unit with eight minutes remaining in the contest. Derosa, who tallied his eighth goal of the season, took a lead pass from sophomore defenseman Andy Davis onto a breakaway and quashed any Camel hopes of a shutout for Conn. College junior goalie
Greg Parker.
    But that would be the last score of the game. Parker turned out a near-perfect effort, notching 21 saves for the Camels. Barchard, who was equally solid for the Jumbos, backed 23 stops on the contest and was credited an assist on the team's scoring play as well, accurately hitting Davis, who then quickly moved the puck along to Derosa.
    "Scotty's been great all year," junior co-captain David Antonelli said. "He's kept us in lots of games, some especially that we shouldn't have even had a chance to win. He's the type of guy that keeps you in games no matter what, and we're going to need him down the stretch."
    On the whole, the Jumbos' lack of any sustained serious offensive threats — combined with a slew of injuries on the defensive side of the ice — led to a largely inconsistent effort in the close and tough areas.
    "Their first goal was just a bad break that caught us early on in the game that we couldn't do anything about, but mainly it was just momentary lapses that gave them success," Antonelli said. "We were a bit shorthanded on defense with injuries, but it was a team effort that led to [Tuesday night's] results, and we need to improve on playing more complete games this upcoming weekend."
    "Any time you have players out, it's certainly going to affect your team," Derosa added. "Especially when most of the guys who have been out for us are defensemen, it's been pretty tough. We've had to put some forwards back on defense to fill those roles, but hopefully this weekend we should get some of those injured guys back, and we'll look to use them to our advantage."
    While the Conn. College squad moves confidently toward their important NESCAC battles against Bowdoin and Colby this weekend, the Jumbos now face a similar immediate future, albeit with a slightly more desperate outlook.
    "We definitely need to get our power play going again, and we need to start producing more when we get those opportunities," Derosa said. "We're getting the chances, but we just need to finish those chances and execute a little bit better. The chances and shots are there for us, but we've got to be able to convert those more often to get back to playing the way we were earlier on in the season."
    After a pair of hard-fought losses to regional opponents St. Michael's and Skidmore, the team was trounced by Castleton State 11-2 last Saturday. Now, the team knows it must head in a new direction.
    "Getting back our identity that defined us at the beginning of the year is going to be the key for us moving forward," Antonelli said. "No matter who's out there, we need to out-work teams, and if we do that, we can compete with any team in the country on any given night. It's just the little stuff, the fundamental stuff, which we need to focus on and to get that hardworking identity back."
    The Jumbos make their return to the Malden Forum this weekend, taking on conference rivals Colby and Bowdoin. And if their record on home ice thus far indicates anything, chances are good that the squad will put together a couple of strong efforts in order to better position themselves for a potential postseason berth.
    "We're undefeated at home this year, and I think there's a reason for that," Antonelli said. "We've just put together better efforts in our home rink. Especially with these road trips, going for three nights at a time, being in a hotel, and being up late, we're excited to be home this weekend and hope that playing in front of our home crowd will change things for us."