SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (November 26, 2023) – After rallying to tie the game 2-2, the Tufts University men's hockey team dropped a 3-2 final to 10
th-ranked Salve Regina University in the consolation game of the Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational Sunday afternoon.
The Jumbos (0-4-1) trailed 2-0, but came back to tie the game at 2-2 on goals by sophomores
Cole Dubicki and
Max Resnick. However, Salve Regina (9-2) scored on a power-play at 10:06 of the third period for the game-winning goal.
Down two, the Jumbos cut the margin to 2-1 on a power-play. Junior
Tyler Sedlak sent the puck from the left corner out to senior
Jacob Iida moving in from the left point. He found Dubicki on the right side of the goal area, and though he mis-hit it Dubicki's shot fooled Salve junior goalie Cayden Bailey and squirted past him into the net at 10:41 of the second period.
The Jumbos then tied the score at 2-2 just 31 seconds into the third period. Sedlak picked up his second assist, bringing the puck from his own blue line into deep in the Seahawk zone. His pass fit through a pair of Salve defenders to Resnick who pushed a back-hander past Bailey to tie the game.
Halfway through the third, on a Seahawk power-play, senior defenseman Joel Shoemaker sent the puck down to senior Johhny Mulera on the left side of the net. He waited a second to zip a pass out to junior Matthew Fawcett coming down the slot and he netted the game-winner.
Salve had taken the 2-0 lead on goals barely three minutes apart early in the second period. Sophomore Logan Calder tallied at 2:15 of the second, then Mulera scored a power-play goal at 5:23. Shoemaker (two assists) had a helper on the Calder goal.
Late in the third, Tufts had a power-play and then pulled senior goalie
Peyton Durand for extra-man opportunities. However, the Seahawks were able to keep the Jumbos at bay to record the victory.
The Seahawks out-shot the Jumbos 42-29, with Durand making 39 saves for the Jumbos and Bailey 27 for Salve. Resnick for the Jumbos and Mulera for Salve Regina were named to the All-Tournament team.
Tufts will return to NESCAC play on Friday at Williams College.
--JUMBOS--
