After shutting out the Becker College Ice Hawks 3-0 on Nov. 22 at home, Tufts traveled to Rutland, Vt. this past weekend to compete in the Rutland Herald Invitational.
The Jumbos defeated The College at Brockport Golden Eagles 4-1 on Friday and fell to the Western New England University Golden Bears 3-1 on Saturday. The Saturday loss, which was Tufts' first of the season, came in the Rutland Herald Invitational Championship game.
Western New England sophomore forward David Kleyman started the scoring off at 10:43 in the first period, after he intercepted a pass and successfully challenged junior goaltender Nik Nugnes one-on-one.
After a high-sticking penalty was called against Western New England at 13:39, Tufts first-years forward Anthony Farinacci and defender Jordan Haney were able to force the puck out in front of the net. First-year forward Ross DeLabreure deflected the puck to score Tufts' only goal of the game at 14:45.
Golden Bears senior captain forward Josh Twietmeyer scored the game winner at 15:18 of the first period, putting his team up 2-1 going into the second period. Just five minutes into the second period, junior forward Matt Smethurst of Western New England put the game out of reach with the final score of the 3-1 contest.
Tufts was called for seven penalties compared to Western New England’s five penalties, though Tufts successfully killed all six power plays and capitalized on one out of three power plays. The Jumbos also outshot the Golden Bears 36-20, including 20 shots in the third period, but then lost the face-off battle 35-31. Nugnes made 17 saves and Western New England sophomore goaltender Kevin Gollmer had 35 saves.
Nugnes noted that the team did not bring as much skill to the ice as it had in its opening games.
“We just didn’t play the game that we’ve brought to the previous four games," he said. "Western New England is a good team with good goaltending, but at the same time, we faced a couple of unlucky bounces."
In the opening round of the tournament on Friday, Tufts defeated Brockport 4-1. Senior tri-captain Mike Leary struck first at 6:59 in the first period to put Tufts on the board early. Senior forward Pat Lackey assisted on the goal.
Tufts was on a power play with under a minute to go in the first period when junior forward Brian Brown and senior captain Sean Kavanagh worked the puck to first-year defender Cooper Stahl at the right point. Stahl hit a slap shot in the top left corner of the net, expanding Tufts' lead to 2-0.
Tufts added an insurance goal 3:52 into the second period when first-year forward Machlan Sawden scored off the rebound from sophomore forward Nick Balboa's shot. With the Jumbos ahead 3-0, junior forward Nick Flanagan netted the their final score of the game at 18:50 of the second period when he slipped the puck through the legs of Brockport sophomore goaltender Jake Moore after DeLabreure won a face-off. Brockport scored its only goal late into the third period at 17:59 after capitalizing on a turnover to score a short-handed goal.
Tufts killed all four of Brockport’s power plays and capitalized on one out of its five power plays. The Jumbos also outshot Brockport 26-25 and won the face-off battle 33-31. Senior goaltender Mason Pulde had 24 saves and multiple first-years took face-offs. These include Tyler Scroggins who went 10-18, DeLabreure at 7-11 and Blake McIntyre with 7-11.
Tufts hosted Becker on Tuesday and won 3-0 for the season's first shutout. The Jumbo first-years were dominant on offense, as first-years scored all three goals. The first of the game came at 3:03 in the second period, as Farinacci and Brown assisted McIntyre. Stahl then scored at 14:51 on a power play, as Brown and Farinacci assisted again.
Two Becker penalties, 11 seconds apart during the third period, gave Tufts a two-man advantage, and Scroggins capitalized 13 seconds in at 7:19 to bring the score to its final tally at 3-0. Brown assisted on the goal.
Becker had nine penalties compared to Tufts' four, and Tufts killed both penalties while capitalizing on two out of its seven power plays. Pulde made 35 saves and was barely challenged during the third period when he saw only five shots.
Brown and Farinacci lead Tufts with seven and six points on the season respectively. Farinacci's five assists pace the team while Brown's three goals tie him with Stahl for the team lead.
Looking forward, the team hopes to maintain its speed and momentum on the offensive end during its upcoming away games against Williams and Middlebury.
“We are going to work on limiting our opponents to no more than a goal a game, because if we can limit teams to one goal or less, we should be pretty tough to beat," Kavanagh said. "We also have good team speed so we want to continue to use that to try and push back our opponents and maintain our high tempo.”
Tufts next plays at Williams at 7 p.m. on Friday before taking on Middlebury in Vermont at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
First-years provide offensive boost as Tufts shuts Becker out 3-0
