The struggles continued for the Jumbos in their last two home games at the Valley Forum this season. The Jumbos’ record dropped to 5–15–2 on the year with their two recent losses. Two of their five wins have come in conference play, putting them at ninth in the NESCAC, one spot out of playoff contention.
On Saturday evening, the Jumbos faced off against a talented Hamilton Continentals (11–9–2) team. Hamilton ultimately came away with the 4–3 victory after scoring just 21 seconds into the overtime period. The first period of play appeared to set the tone for a high scoring 60 minutes, but the defenses tightened up after the opening period. Tufts outscored Hamilton 3–2 in the first period as the Jumbos netted more goals in the first 20 minutes than they had scored in any game since their Dec. 7 matchup with Bowdoin.
First-year defenseman Rune Kirby talked about the battle with Hamilton.
“I thought we played pretty tough,” Kirby said. “Defensively, I feel like we just didn’t show up as much. I think on defense we just had a few breakdowns. I feel like we’ve all been playing hard, [but] it just hasn’t been matching up.”
The first score of the game happened just over six minutes into the game when an atypical bounce off of the boards caught first-year goaltender Josh Sarlo out of position and allowed Hamilton senior forward Jon Stickel to bury the puck into a wide-open net. This was his first of two goals in the game, giving the Continentals a 1–0 lead.
Hamilton did not hold onto their lead for long, however. After senior captain Clay Berger, playing in his last home game of his career, got hold of the puck in Tufts’ zone, he raced the length of the ice, leaving only the goaltender to beat. Berger did just that, tying the game at 1–1 just 20 seconds after the Continentals had opened the scoring.
Although the Jumbos took a 3–2 lead into the first intermission, their offense slowed down during the latter two periods as they managed only 12 shots on goal compared to 23 for the Continentals.
Tufts’ hard-fought loss at the hands of Hamilton came just one night after another NESCAC defeat as the Jumbos fell 3–1 to a skilled Amherst (11–6–4) squad.
Tufts coach Patrick Norton spoke highly of his team's performance on Friday, despite the loss.
“I thought we played very well against Amherst,” Norton said. “I thought we played 60 minutes of very good hockey. We unfortunately weren’t able to bury enough of the opportunities that we had.”
The Jumbos’ offense struggled against the Mammoths; they managed only one goal on 15 shots throughout the game, their fewest in any game this season. The consistent lack of power-play production for the Jumbos continued to be an issue against the Mammoths. The Jumbos were unable to find the net on any of their four man-up opportunities, while the Mammoths scored once on their three chances with a man advantage. Additionally, what would be the game-winning goal for Amherst came roughly halfway through the second period.
The Jumbos close out regular season play in Maine this weekend as they take on the Bowdoin Polar Bears (6–14–2) on Friday, followed by a matchup with the Colby Mules (9–9–4) on Saturday. The battle for the eighth and final seed in the NESCAC tournament all comes down to this weekend as Tufts, Bowdoin and Conn. College are all in position to earn the bid.
Wins in both games would allow the Jumbos’ season to continue in the NESCAC tournament. A loss to Bowdoin on Friday would end Tufts’ hopes of making the tournament. However, in a much more complicated scenario, a win at Bowdoin and a loss to Colby could mean a tournament berth, depending on the outcome of the game between Conn. College and Bowdoin on Saturday night.
“It’s not going to be an easy weekend,” Norton said. “I expect it to be two hard-fought games. Most importantly, we have to take care of Friday first and see where we are after Friday. That’s the biggest one.”
Recent struggles put hockey in a must-win situation to make NESCACs
