Jumbos battle Conn. College to overtime on successive nights

The Tufts ice hockey team competed in a home-and-home doubleheader against Conn. College over the weekend, with both games advancing into overtime.Friday night’s community awareness home game celebrated the Jumbos’ continued partnership with the East Coast Jumbos, a hockey team for children with developmental disabilities. On the ice, the matchup finished scoreless — a first for the Tufts hockey program since its reinstatement in 1986.The following night, the Jumbos traveled to New London, Conn., as the two teams battled it out in overtime again, ending in a 4­­–3 win for the Camels.

The Jumbos entered Saturday night's game undefeated in their last three matches. Having just played Conn. College the previous night, the team had a good sense of the competition that it was up against.

"We knew the Camels were a good team going into the weekend," sophomore defenseman Cooper Stahl said. "They definitely brought tough competition and challenged us on the ice."

After a scoreless first period on Saturday — which, combined with Friday's result, made for over 91 minutes of scoreless hockey between the teams — Tufts exploded in the second period, as its shots began to find the back of the net.With 8:28 remaining in the second, senior forward Brian Brown scored the first goal of the weekend on an assist from first-year forward Charley Borek.Just 17 seconds later, first-year forward Edward Hannon scored his first collegiate goal to give Tufts a 2–0 lead going into the third period. First-year defenseman Michael Gordon's slap shot ricocheted off the pads of Conn. College sophomore goalie Connor Rodericks, and Hannon fired the loose puck into the net.

The Camels dominated the third period, halving their 2–0 deficit with a goal at 2:51 from sophomore forward Ryan Petti.Tufts fired back with a goal from sophomore forward Anthony Farinacci at 8:01 to regain their two-goal lead, as Conn. College quickly put in a new goalie, sophomore Avery Gobbo.From that point on, the Camels went on a scoring spree, coming back from a 3–1 deficit to win the game in overtime.

The Camels scored two more goals in the third period, one from senior forward Ryan Glantz at 8:10 and another from sophomore defenseman Brenden Russ at 11:51 to tie the game. After a tie the previous night, both teams were hungry to break the 3–3 deadlock in overtime. Only 55 seconds into the extra period, Conn. College junior forward William White scored the game-winner.

The previous night, Tufts played hosts to Conn. College in their annual community awareness game for the East Coast Jumbos.

"The East Coast Jumbos love the game of hockey and benefit from learning lessons on and off the ice," coach Pat Norton said. "Several members of their team, as well as their coach, Ray LeBlanc, were on hand Friday night. In lieu of raising money, our team is contributing to the cost of new jerseys for the East Coast Jumbos team."

Senior goalie and co-captain Nik Nugnes posted his second shutout of the season, and the fourth of his career, with 24 saves against the Camels.

"Nik Nugnes played amazing in net," sophomore defenseman Cory Gottfried said. "He didn’t give up any goals on Friday, and he saved the game more than once."

There were many scoring opportunities throughout the game, but the two teams' defenses and goalies played exceptionally well, shutting down the opposing attack.Although Tufts held a 25–24 edge in shots on goal — including a 10–8 advantage in the third period — neither team was able to score. The Camels outshot the Jumbos 3–1 in the extra period, but Nugnes again stood tall to turn away Russ and first-year forwards Greg Pezza and Bryan Ackil.

The back-to-back draws keep Tufts (4–12–4, 3–8–3 NESCAC) in eighth place in the conference standings, while Conn. College (9–9–2, 8–4–2 NESCAC) remains in second.

"It is unfortunate how the weekend panned out," first-year forward Mason Babbidge said. "We battled hard but didn’t close [out] the Camels when we had the 3–1 lead [on Saturday]."

Tufts will hit the road to face a pair of NESCAC opponents in fourth-place Amherst (9–7–4, 6–4–4 NESCAC) and fifth-place Hamilton (13–6–1, 7–6–1 NESCAC) for the penultimate weekend of play in the 2017-18 season.