Box Score
|
| David Lacker scored two of the Jumbos four goals on Sunday afternoon. |
Parts of this recap courtesy of Hamilton Sports Information
CLINTON, N.Y. - Freshman David Lackner scored twice to help the Tufts men's hockey team edge Hamilton College on Saturday afternoon at Russell Sage Rink. The Jumbos scored three straight goals to break 1-1 tie and held off a Continental rally in the last period.
The Jumbos improve to 9-8-5 overall and 5-7-4 in the NESCAC. Hamilton is now 13-7-2 with an 8-6-2 NESCAC mark. The Jumbos are currently in seventh place in the conference standings, while the Continentals are in fourth place heading into the last weekend of conference play.
The teams traded goals 35 seconds apart midway through the first. Lackner put Tufts ahead 8:57 into the game, redirecting a shot by classmate Nick Abbene over the shoulder of Hamilton's Evan Buitenhuis into the net.
Hamilton answered quickly with sophomore Neal Conway tipping a shot by senior Tyler Lovejoy into the open left side of Tufts' goal.
Lackner put the visitors ahead to stay just 32 seconds before the first intermission, carrying the puck down the right side and beating Buitenhuis to the short side. Tufts pushed its lead to three with a pair second-half goals; Abbene scored a goal off the face off just five seconds into a Jumbo power play. Sophomore Chad Goldberg closed out the visitors' scoring with 2:08 left in the period, fighting through a scramble of players in front of the net to pick up his fifth goal of the season. Sophomore Brian Brown and freshman Clay Berger picked up assists on the score.
The Continental rally started midway through the final period when the hosts took advantage of a five-minute power play (the game featured 63 penalty minutes, including 40 against the Jumbos). Junior Robbie Murden scored his team and NESCAC-leading 15th goal to pull the Continentals to 4-2.
With 2:40 remaining in regulation, Conway scored his second goal of the game to make it a one-goal contest. His line mates rookie Brandon Willett and Murden assisted on the goal, which was his 12th this winter.
Hamilton outshot Tufts 15-7 in the third, but Tufts junior goaltender Mason Pulde held the Continentals scoreless the rest of the way.
Hamilton outshot the Jumbos on the day, 34-25. The Jumbos were 1-for-3 on the power play, while he Continentals were 1-for-6 with the one man advantage. Buitenhuis finished with 21 saves and Pulde stopped 31 shots.
The Continentals wrap up the regular season with weekend games at Middlebury (Saturday at 4 p.m.) and Williams (Sunday at 3 p.m.). Hamilton and Middlebury are two of six teams fighting for the final two home quarterfinal games in the NESCAC Championship; the Ephs took over first place in the conference with a pair of wins this weekend.
The Jumbos will host Bowdoin on Friday and Colby on Saturday at the Valley Forum II. The Polar Bears are currently third in the conference standings, while Colby sits in eighth place heading into the final weekend of play.
