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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Jumbos split home games over the weekend

Ice-Hockey-vs.-Wesleyan-66
Sophomore goalie Mason Pulde limited Middlebury to only one goal on Friday.

Tufts improved to 4-2 at home and continued its four game winning streak against Middlebury (7-8-3) before falling to No. 11 Williams (12-4-2) to bring its home record to 4-3. With their four-game winning streak at home over, the Jumbos stand at 7-10-1 overall and 4-7-1 in conference play. Although a win against Williams would have gone a long way for Tufts in securing a postseason berth and improving its seed, the team is still right on the cusp, oscillating between the seventh and eighth seed. Only the top eight teams in the NESCAC make the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Ephs defeated the Jumbos 4-2, but their final goal came against an empty net almost immediately after the Jumbos pulled sophomore goalie Mason Pulde. Williams scored first when senior defenseman tri-captain David Jarrett fired a slap shot past Pulde's shoulder off an assist from junior linemate Zander Masucci. Senior tri-captain Andrew White answered back off a tipped shot from his fellow captain, junior Stewart Bell, roughly a minute and a half later.

The second period saw Williams dominate control of the puck, but Tufts' sophomore defenseman Sean Kavanagh was able to capitalize on a power-play for his fourth goal of the season. The assists went to first-year forward Brian Brown and senior forward Tyler Voigt. With the Jumbos unable to break out of their defensive zone for the majority of the game, the Ephs had multiple good looks at Pulde and the net. One such look met the back of the net when Pulde was screened and sophomore forward Tyler Young deflected in a point shot from Jarrett.

In the final period, the Jumbos continuously fed the puck to the left side in an attempt to break out, but the Ephs' solid defense pressured every pass and capitalized on the slightest mistake or miscommunication. Unable to break out, the Jumbos found themselves playing defense for the majority of the deciding period, even after sophomore defenseman James McNamara shot and sophomore forward Sam Gray finished a third Ephs goal.The final Williams goal came 12 seconds after Pulde left the net on a slow-moving shot by senior forward Alex Debaer.

"We did a good job of playing a simple game and limiting our mistakes this weekend," Bell said. "Williams played well defensively, and we didn't get enough traffic in front of their net."

Although the Jumbos let up four goals, their trapping defense was effective for the majority of the game. It was only the sheer volume of chances that allowed Williams to score so much. The story of the season for the Jumbos has been allowing their opponents more shots on goal, which played out again in this game as the Ephs took 40 shots to the Jumbos' 31. On the season, the Jumbos have allowed the third most goals and scored the second fewest in the conference. That the Jumbos were able to keep this game competitive is a testament to the determination of the team and its faith in its players' abilities.

The day before, the Jumbos played the Panthers at the Malden Forum.

The final score of 2-1 belies Tufts' control over the game. Brown finished a shot by junior defenseman Dominic Granato at 16:11 to give the Jumbos the lead. Brown leads the Jumbos with 10 goals on the season. Middlebury was able to put pressure on Pulde, but he allowed none of the eight shots on goal to find their mark in the first period.

"The win against Middlebury on Friday night was huge for us," White said. "The NESCAC is extremely competitive and all ten of the teams in the league are in the playoff hunt, so those two points were very important."

The Jumbos did an excellent job of staying on the offensive and not allowing the Panthers to break out of their zone effectively. That led to another goal seven minutes into the second period off of senior defenseman Shawn Power's slap shot. Senior forward William Sellers and sophomore forward Patrick Lackey earned the assists. Up two points to none, the Jumbos allowed a goal with just under 10 minutes left in the second period. Panthers senior Derek Pimentel scored off the rebound of junior Zach Haggerty's shot, which Pulde was unable to save.

A back and forth final period saw no new scoring as the Jumbos played aggressive defense and the Panthers were unable to get a good look at the goal. The Panthers managed to get off 14 shots on goal in the third period to the Jumbos' four. With a minute left to play, Middlebury goalie junior Liam Moorfield-Yee was pulled, yet the extra man was not enough and Tufts ran out the clock.

"We did a great job weathering a strong late third period by Middlebury to gut out the win," White said. "That being said, we need to find a way to put more pucks in the net as two goals per game is not enough."

"Our team is extremely resilient and mentally tough," White said. "We respond very well to adversity and we never quit. Our mentality, like it has been all season, is that we can play with and beat anyone in the NESCAC."

Tufts plays Connecticut College (9-7-2) next at home at the Malden rink before traveling to play the Camels again in Connecticut. Winning one or both games would go a long way towards improving the Jumbos' postseason seed.