Box Score AMHERST – After a back-and-forth battle through the first two periods, an early third-period goal by Amherst College gave them a two-goal lead and all the momentum as they downed the Tufts University hockey team by a 4-2 score in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play on Saturday afternoon.
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| Junior Mason Babbidge recorded his second short-handed goal on the season. |
The Jumbos fall to 7-14-1 overall with a 5-10-1 record in NESCAC games. The Mammoths improve to 9-9-4 on the season with a 7-6-3 record in league contests.
Following a turnover in the attacking end, the Mammoths capitalized on a loose puck in the slot to open the scoring. Nick Bondra poked the puck out from behind the goal for Patrick Daly who beat Tufts junior goaltender Drew Hotte before he could slide back across the goal mouth. That goal came at the 5:06 mark of the opening stanza.
The Jumbos quickly responded as senior Ross Delabruere wristed a shot by Giancarlo Ventre from the top of the slot at 7:00. Tufts drove down the ice after winning a puck battle in their own zone. Delabruere won the race following a dump-and-change and found junior Mason Babbidge crashing the zone. He was initially stopped, but the puck bounced back to the assistant captain who drove to the slot and unleashed the equalizer.
Amherst regained the lead at 18:06 of the first period. Bondra collected a breakout pass from his own end and attacked the Jumbo zone. He dropped a pass to Greg Krisberg in the middle of the slot, who then slid a pass to P.J. Conlon who quickly scored on a wrister from just inside the right faceoff circle.
The Mammoths held a 17-6 shots advantage through the first period and owned a 2-1 edge.
Tufts earned the first powerplay of the contest just before the halfway point of the second period. They nearly had the equalizer, but Ventre made an excellent right pad save on a one-time shot by Jumbo senior Anthony Farinacci. Sophomore Angus Scott slid the pass for Farinacci who was in the right place for the rebound, but Ventre kept both shots out.
Tufts was called for a penalty just seconds after their powerplay expired. The Jumbos won the draw and Babbidge cleared the puck the full length of the ice. After Amherst tried to set up their powerplay offense, Babbidge forced a turnover just outside the Amherst blueline. He collected the loose puck and drove in on a short-handed breakaway and fired a wrister from the slot that beat Ventre and tied the contest at 9:24 of the second period.
The see saw battle would continue as Amherst regained the lead just seconds after the Jumbos killed off consecutive Mammoth powerplay chances. Matteo Mangiardi one-timed a pass from Joey Lupo, who managed to feed the pass through two defenders. That gave the Mammoths a 3-2 lead at 13:11 of the second frame.
Amherst earned a third powerplay chance which the Jumbos killed off in the closing minutes of the second period.
The Mammoths held a 3-2 lead in the contest while also outshooting the Jumbos, 30-14, through 40 minutes.
Lupo gave the Mammoths a two-goal advantage just 19 seconds into the final regulation period. The Jumbos coughed up the puck in their own end and Lupo was in the slot to collect the loose puck and fire a shot by Hotte.
Tufts earned a powerplay just before the six-minute mark of the third period. However, they did not earn a strong chance to score with the extra attacker. The Jumbos were the beneficiary of a too many players on the ice penalty just a minute later which gave them another powerplay chance. The Mammoths managed to kill off that chance as well.
The Jumbos had a third powerplay in the period. Strong puck movement paved way for shots from seniors Cooper Stahl and Cory Gottfried, but they could not find the back of the goal.
Tufts opted for an extra attacker for the last two minutes, but were unable to dig themselves out of their two-goal deficit.
The Jumbos closed the gap in shots as Amherst held a 34-28 advantage for the game.
Hotte made 30 saves on 34 shots on goal in the losing effort. Ventre stopped 26 of 28 shots on goal.
Tufts was 0 for 5 with a man advantage while Amherst was 0 for 4. The Mammoths won 37 faceoffs while the Jumbos won 27.
The Jumbos return to action on Friday night when they host Colby College. Puck drop is slated for 7 pm. The Mammoths head to Middlebury College on Friday for a 7 pm start.
