Tufts finished the regular season on Saturday with a record of 11-10-3 and clinched the sixth seed in the NESCAC playoffs after falling to the Colby Mules (11-4-3), by a margin of 3-2, in the final two minutes of the game. Colby simultaneously guaranteed itself the second seed. On Friday, the Jumbos defeated the Bowdoin Polar Bears (5-12-1) at 3-1.
Saturday's game was scoreless until Colby's junior forward Michael Rudolf collected a puck that rebounded off of junior goaltender Nik Nugnes and scored 27 seconds into the second period. A hooking penalty called against Colby gave Tufts a power-play a minute later. First-year forward Anthony Farinacci capitalized on the advantage and scored his seventh goal of the season, assisted by first-years Tyler Scroggins and Cooper Stahl. With 15 points on the season, Farinacci ranks fourth in scoring among first-years in the NESCAC.
First-year Machlan Sawden scored from the right point at 5:15 in the second period, taking the lead for the Jumbos. Accordingly, Tufts entered the third period with a 2-1 lead, and the team was able to maintain its lead for the first half of the period. At 13:55 into the third, however, Rudolf netted his second goal of the game on a power play assisted from the left side by junior forward Phil Klitirinos. Just five minutes later with 1:43 left in the game, sophomore forward Nick O’Connor scored the winning goal. After a Colby teammate collected a blocked shot and swung the puck to the left side, Klitrinos slid the puck to O’Connor, who was waiting at the front of the net and tallied the final goal of the game.
While Tufts outshot Colby 15-5 during the first 20 minutes of play, Colby had 18 shots in the third period alone and Nugnes had 34 total saves on the game.
According to senior tri-captain forward Mike Leary, the game inspired a lot of emotions.
"The first time we met [Colby], we played them a similar game, and we knew it was going to be close, but we were up in the third period and we just weren’t able to hold onto that lead," Leary said. "I think our emotions got the best of us a little bit. We were taking penalties and let up two shorthanded goals, so it was a mix of taking bad bounces and not being able to get it done in the shorthand."
Against Bowdoin, Tufts got an early lead after junior forward Brian Brown received a pass from junior forward Trevor Davis, sped down the left side and scored 10:39 into the first. A few minutes later on a power play, senior Matt Pugh scored the second goal of the game at 13:58 after ripping a shot from the blue line and scoring on a screened goaltender.
The second period was scoreless for both teams, and it was not until 3:08 into the third that the Polar Bears got on the scoreboard after first-year forward Thomas Dunleavy scored off of a rebounded shot from senior defenseman Mitch Barrington. After Bowdoin pulled its goaltender in the last minute of the game, Farinacci scored an empty-netter, finalizing the 3-1 victory.
Nugnes had 26 total saves on the game, while Bowdoin’s junior goalkeeper Peter Cronin had 25.
The team will face the Trinity Bantams (15-6-3) in the quarterfinals of the playoffs on Saturday to continue a long-lasting rivalry between the teams. The Jumbos have faced the Bantams in the NESCAC tournament for the last two years, defeating them in the quarterfinals of the 2014-15 season and losing to them in the semi-finals of the 2015-16 season.
“As soon as we got the news that we were playing Trinity [in the playoff quarterfinals], everyone was ecstatic," Farinacci said. "We were so pumped up because we knew everyone was going to doubt us playing at the sixth seed. We are playing a team we are very used to [playing]. Being a freshman, it’s exciting playing them twice after we got to beat them in a statement win [earlier in the season].”
Farinacci also stressed that the game against Trinity is not going to be easy.
“It is going to be a hard-fought game, but every game in the NESCAC is a battle and it will be the same thing in the first playoff game against Trinity," he said.
Senior tri-captain Sean Kavanagh is also optimistic going into the Trinity game after playing his 100th career game against Colby. Kavanagh is the first player in Tufts history to play triple-digit games for the program.
"These past four years have been unbelievable for me," Kavanagh said. "I've been watching the program change and take form, and being part of that is pretty special. Going all four years without missing a game is special, and I'm looking to extend that a little longer during these next few games in the upcoming weeks."
Jumbos lock up sixth in NESCAC tournament after win over Bowdoin, loss to Colby
