Jumbos split weekend's matchups to stay competitive in the NESCAC

After falling 2-1 to Amherst on Saturday, Tufts rallied to squeak by Hamilton 4-3 on Sunday. Winning on Sunday kept the Jumbos at seventh in the NESCAC with just two conference games left in the regular season.

Against Hamilton, Tufts jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the first period and extended it to 4-1 through the second period. However, the Jumbos nearly caved in the third, allowing two goals and getting outshot 15-7 in the final period.

The Jumbos were looking for a win to remain in contention for a home game in the first round of the playoffs but started off the day slowly when their team bus broke down in front of their hotel. The game was delayed, and a mechanic had to be procured before the Jumbos eventually made it to Russell Sage Rink.

"We wanted to come out of this weekend with a win against Amherst obviously, but I think how our team responded to that Friday game, we came out flying and we hit a lot of adversity on Sunday," goalkeeper Mason Pulde, a junior, said. "Our bus broke down right outside of our hotel so we showed up, had 20 minutes to warm up, didn’t have time to do an off-ice warm up, guys were scrambling and we kind of just came out flying and never really looked back. That speaks a lot to the mental growth we’ve [under]taken as a team because we are really young. To hit adversity like that and respond with a win is going to bode well for the playoffs."

First-year David Lackner guided classmate Nick Abbene's shot over Hamilton goaltender Evan Buitenhuis' shoulder to put Tufts on the board at 8:57 in the first period. A fired-up Continentals squad evened the score just 34 seconds later when sophomore Neil Conway found the net behind Pulde with the assistance of senior Tyler Lovejoy and sophomore Brandon Willet. But the Jumbos reclaimed their lead when Lackner scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season off an assist from junior Sean Kavanagh with 32 seconds remaining in the first period.

In the second period, the game started to get ugly. A scrum in front of the net resulted in ejections for both Tufts first-years Jefferson Martin and Hamilton first-year Jason Brochu as both were tagged with dual face mask and misconduct penalties. Willet and Tufts sophomore Nick Flanagan were called for cross-checking and roughing, respectively. Hamilton first-year Rory Gagnon added a roughing penalty, and four seconds later Tufts sophomore Oliver Takacsi-Nagy was hit with a delay-of-game penalty.

The next goal came roughly 10 minutes later, as Abbene scored from the left side five seconds into a power play. Senior co-captain forward Stewart Bell assisted on the play, which began with a face-off. Sophomore forward Chad Goldberg followed it up, and contributed what would be the game-winner, gliding through traffic at the front of the net with sophomore Brian Brown and first-year Clay Berger providing the assists.

The Jumbos' lead began to break down in the third period. Flanagan was sent to the box at 6:40 in for slashing and misconduct. The Continentals capitalized on the opportunity, with prolific junior Robbie Murden scoring his NESCAC-leading 15th goal a minute and 12 seconds into the power-play.With a two-goal lead, the Jumbos still appeared safe, but just under 10 minutes after Murden's goal, Conway struck again for the Continentals. This time junior Conor Lamberti and Willet assisted.

Despite cutting the deficit to one goal, the Continentals were unable to score again within the 2:40 remaining. Pulde stopped 31 shots to Buitenhuis' 21. Despite allowing five goals over the weekend, Pulde remains the NESCAC leader in overall save percentage with 0.948 and is in second place in conference games.

"[Coach Patrick Norton] kind of does a really good job of letting the goalies like me and [Nik Nugnes] and [Ryan McConnell] kind of just do our thing," Pulde said. "Since day one he’s taken a step back and told us that we can just do us, and I think that makes it so much easier as a goalie when a coach does that. When a coach trusts you like that it boosts your confidence."

The story went differently for Tufts on Saturday. Against the Lord Jeffs, the Jumbos surrendered the lead early and were unable to recover. Amherst junior Austin Ho found peer Chris Roll around the left face-off circle, and Roll's quick shot made it past Pulde just before the 12-minute mark of the first period.

There were 30 shots in the first period from both sides, but only 11 in the second. Despite six penalties in the period, both offenses bogged down and the Lord Jeffs nursed their 1-0 lead into the third.

A minute and 30 seconds into the period, Kavanagh was whistled for hooking and Amherst sophomore Thomas Lindstrom snuck the puck underneath Pulde on the power play at the three-minute mark. But Bell collected the puck and brought the Jumbos back within one goal with over 10 minutes remaining.

"It was good to have a push in the third period," Bell said. "Unfortunately, I think it’s just another example of us not really playing 60 minutes in that game. I think if we put together a better second period, we’d have given ourselves a chance in that game."

The goal was Bell's seventh of the season. Despite the goal, Bell was reluctant to comment on his performance this weekend. Coach Norton said last week that Bell was unhappy with his recent offensive production.

"When you get given a good opportunity to play on a top line or a power play, you just definitely want to produce," Bell said. "Since you are given that opportunity, there are lots of other guys that would love to have that opportunity. When you don't produce, that can definitely be frustrating. You want to play up to the role that you’ve been given."

The Jumbos were unable to tie the game and fell 2-1. Pulde saved 39 shots, and his Lord Jeff counterpart, sophomore Connor Girard, stopped 33. Nugnes, a sophomore, has traditionally rotated games with Pulde this season, but a lower body injury has prevented Nugnes from taking the ice recently.Nugnes currently ranks fourth in the NESCAC in overall save percentage.

"[Nugnes] is a great goalie partner," Pulde said. "He’s really positive. He makes my life so much easier because I know that when I’m in net he’s rooting for me, and when he’s in net I’m rooting for him. We have a really good synergy that way, and it makes both of us better."

Having struggled with back-to-back games as a first-time starter last season, Pulde accredits a new mentality for his newfound ability to handle the workload.

"It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s something that I’ve been preparing for all summer to improve on," he said. "I think one of the biggest things is not letting the highs or the lows of the game before influence the next game. Last year I was young. I was a little inexperienced. I played one game, and maybe I played poorly or I played well and I let that influence my mindset."

While Williams (13-2-1) and Trinity (12-4-0) have each locked up a home playoff game in the first round, there are six teams in contention for the final two home game slots. Bowdoin is currently in third place in the NESCAC with an 8-5-3 record and 19 points on the season, with Hamilton (8-6-2) just one behind them, separated by just a tie. Amherst boasts 17 points in fifth place, just a point behind Hamilton in a packed middle of the conference. Seventh place Tufts (5-7-4), with 14 points,trails sixth place Middlebury and its 16 points, but neither team is out of the hunt with two games left to play in the regular season. Colby (5-9-2) is the only playoff team not in contention for a first round home game.

The potential four points remaining to decide home rink advantage are crucial as each NESCAC team needs every advantage it can get in a league of near-absolute parity. Tufts host Bowdoin and Colby this weekend at the Malden Valley Forum II in its final games of the regular season, with the potential to jump into the top four in the conference or at least spoil Bowdoin's seed ahead of the playoffs. The action kicks off at 7 p.m. tomorrow with the Bowdoin game and continues at 4 p.m. on Saturday with the Colby game.