Box Score
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| Seinor tri-captain Brian Brown was one of six seniors honored Saturday |
MALDEN – The Tufts men's hockey team took their home ice for the last time this season on Saturday, but it was the visiting #11 Amherst Lord Jeffs that would come away with the 3-1 win. Amherst jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period, and moved to the 3-1 win at the Valley Forum Saturday afternoon.
The Jumbos (7-13-2, 4-10-2 NESCAC) honored their six seniors prior to the start of the game. Amherst (16-4-2, 12-4-0 NESCAC) is in second place in the league standings and was ranked #11 in the most recent USCHO.com national poll.
The first period didn't see much action for either team with a mere eight shots on goal between the two teams combined. The Jumbos were able to keep the puck in the Lord Jeff zone for a good amount of the first five minutes, but weren't able to get anything in the net.
Both teams had power play opportunities during the first frame, but again neither team was able to manage much offensive pressure. The first period would end scoreless with the Jumbos having a slight advantage in shots, 6-2.
The second period was much more eventful than the first, but unfortunately it wasn't' in the Jumbos favor. The home team had a great chance to score when senior tri-captain Blake Edwards found himself in front of the net with the puck, but Amherst senior goalie Danny Vitale made a great stop to keep the game locked at zero.
The Lord Jeffs opened up scoring with just under seven minutes left on the clock. After a two-on-one breakaway and a save by Tufts rookie net minder Ryan McConnell, Amherst senior Andrew Fenwick scored off the rebound, giving the Lord Jeffs the 1-0 lead. Sophomore Austin Ho and junior Patrick Arena were credited with assists.
The visitors would make it 2-0 a little more than two minutes later with a power play goal from senior Aaron Deutsch. Tufts freshman Brian Brown was sent to the box for holding, and the Lord Jeffs were able to capitalize on the one-man advantage as Deutsch's slapshot got past McConnell. Assists were given to freshman David White and junior Topher Flanagan.
The Jumbos would serve their third penalty of the period when they were called for too many men on the ice with just under three minutes left in the period, but solid defense sent the game to the second intermission with the Lord Jeffs leading, 2-0.
The Jumbos cut the lead to one just under five minutes into the third period with a power play goal after Amherst's junior Louis Reed Xavier was sent to the box for hooking. Edwards launched a shot at the Amherst net, and off the rebound and in the commotion in front of the net Brown snuck it past Vitale to give the Jumbos their first goal of the day. It was Brown's team-leading 12th goal of the season, and sophomore Sean Kavanagh and junior Brian Ouellette were handed assists on the play.
Later in the period the visitors would get an insurance goal when junior Conor Brown scored his tenth of the season with 6:56 remaining in the game. Flanagan and White picked up their second assists of the night on the goal.
The Jumbos would have a chance to cut the lead once again when Amherst senior Michael Cashman sat out two minutes for a holding penalty. But, the Jumbos were not able to capitalize on the extra-man opportunity, and despite pulling their goalie for an extra skater in the last minute and a half, the Jumbos fell by a 3-1 final score.
Amherst finished with a slight edge in shots, 23-22. The game saw a total of nine penalties, as the Lord Jeffs were 1-for-5 on the power play and the Jumbos were 1-for-4. Vitale finished with 21 saves in net for the visitors, while McConnell finished with 20 saves in the loss.
The Jumbos will hit the road this weekend as they travel up to Colby on Friday for a 7:00 pm puck drop and close their regular season schedule on Saturday at Bowdoin.
Amherst wraps up their regular season schedule at home next weekend with Middlebury on Friday at 7:00 pm and Williams on Saturday at 3:00 pm.
