With the foundations of success already laid last year, there is only one thing left for the Tufts hockey team to do: build higher.
In 2008-09, the Jumbos put up their best record since the 2005-06 campaign, capping off the year at 11-12-2 (7-10-2 NESCAC/ECAC East) — good enough to qualify for the NESCAC Tournament. Compared with the 6-17-1 record just a year prior, the improvement was significant. And with the core of its roster back on the ice this season, as well as both their captains, the Jumbos are fully expecting to do even better.
"We're just hoping to try and stay consistent day in and day out," sophomore goalie Scott Barchard said. "Every team's going to have their ups and downs; it's just how you bounce back from those downs."
Last year, the Jumbos were a largely young and inexperienced squad, as the team's top seven point scorers were all either freshmen or sophomores. Leading the charge was sophomore Tom Derosa — now a junior — whose 15-13-28 line in 25 games earned him a spot on the New England Hockey writer's team. Derosa was also a semifinalist for the Concannon Award, given every year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston to the best American-born Div. II-III college hockey player in New England.
Nearly matching Derosa with 27 points was then-freshman linemate Nick Resor, whose 16 goals were the most by any Jumbo last year. In a major offseason development, however, Resor transferred to rival Middlebury, whom the Jumbos will be facing in their season opener tomorrow night. Resor, though, is not expected to play, as he was a part of the Panthers football team that just finished its season last weekend. With the loss of a major offensive component, Tufts will need someone to step up and produce points.
"Pretty much everyone will have to step up to fill his role," Derosa said. "But we have [junior] Lindsay Walker back off of injury. He missed a lot of last season, and he's really productive."
Along with Derosa, junior Dylan Cooper will also be returning to this year's squad. His team-leading 16 assists in 2008-09 earned him a tie for sixth best in the league and his 21 points were third most on the team. Cooper also joins seniors David Antonelli and Myles Neumann — last year's co-captains — as a tri-captain for the 2009-10 campaign.
If great goaltending can win championships, which Amherst's NESCAC championship run last year certainly proved, then the Jumbos should be fine shape with Barchard in net.
Last year, Barchard had a rookie season for the record books. With 862 saves, Barchard eclipsed the Jumbos' previous single-season saves mark, while also tallying far and away the most in the conference. Overall, his .927 save percentage was fourth-best in the league. With his regular 50-plus save performances, Barchard was a stop plug for the Jumbos whenever they were struggling, lifting them to numerous wins despite some lopsided shot counts. With the sophomore back between the pipes this year, there is no limit to what the Jumbos are capable of.
"For me, it's just a matter of getting better every day," Barchard said. "A lot of guys are blocking shots and sacrificing the body in front me, which makes my job a lot easier. It's a six-man game out there, and we're trying to continue to play a complete team defense, starting with the forwards and all the way back to me."
One of the few things that could stand between the Jumbos and a truly successful season may be their special teams. Last year, Tufts struggled both on the power play and the penalty kill, fielding just the sixth-best units in the NESCAC in both categories. With just a 16.9 percent success rate on the man advantage, the Jumbos will need to work on exploiting more of their opportunities so they can cash in with timely goals.
"We've been working on [special teams] a lot, and it's just guys getting used to each other again and knowing what everybody's tendencies are on the power play and penalty kill," Barchard said.
"Our PK [penalty kill] starts with our goalie, and this will be Scott's second season, so that should be good," Derosa added. "Our defense looks a lot better, and we got a few freshmen that are really going to help out a lot on the PK too."
Last year, the Jumbos got off to a slow start, dropping three of their first four games, all of which were on the road. In their first contest on home ice at the Malden Forum, however, Tufts topped Saint Anselm — a perennially strong team — 4-1, which got the Jumbos rolling on a season-high five-game winning streak. The impressive run included wins over powerhouses like New England College and Norwich, with the latter victory marking the first time the Jumbos beat the Cadets since joining the league in 2001.
"We hope that it won't take as long to adjust as it did last year," Derosa said. "At the end of last year, we started to finish really strong, so hopefully we carry that over to this year."
This year, Tufts is hoping to kick things off on a higher note, although it will face some of its toughest competition in the opening weekend. The Jumbos will hit the ice for the first time Friday night when they host last year's NESCAC runner-up Middlebury, followed by a matchup against Williams — which finished third in the conference last season — on Saturday at home. These are the same two teams that Tufts fell to in their opening weekend last season, but with the experience the team has gained and the home-ice advantage, the Jumbos will be looking to reverse their fortunes.
"The fact that our first two games are at home means a lot … and we have a much better chance playing at home," Derosa said. "Especially Middlebury likes to spread out the ice, and that works at their rink since they have an Olympic-size rink, but we don't so that plays into our hands a lot."
Against the Panthers, the Jumbos will be facing last year's top scoring offense and power play. If Tufts hopes to come out on top in its season opener, it will have to rely on a lockdown effort from both its blue-liners and goalkeeper. It won't be an easy task, but the Jumbos are feeling up to the challenge and are looking forward to testing themselves against some of their strongest opponents early in the year as they look to set the tone for their new campaign.
"Having an older bunch of guys against such strong opponents helps everybody understand that when the puck drops, everybody has to be ready play the whole game and the whole season," Barchard said.
