AMHERST, MA (February 10, 2023) – Junior goalie
Peyton Durand recorded a 41-save shutout, and sophomores
Tyler Sedlak and
Clark Bolin scored goals as the Tufts University men's hockey team earned an important 2-0 victory at Amherst College on Friday night.
The win for the Jumbos is the program's first at Amherst since 1995. Tufts improves to 7-13-1 overall and 4-10-1 in the league. The Mammoths, third in NESCAC and losers of just one of their previous nine games entering tonight, fall to 13-5-3 overall and 11-3-1 in the conference.
Tufts entered the weekend ninth in NESCAC and needing wins to improve their playoff position for the upcoming eight-team conference tournament. Tonight's victory, coupled with a 3-2 Middlebury win over Williams, gives both the Jumbos and Ephs 13.5 points to tie for eighth place. Williams holds the head-to-head advantage with two wins over Tufts this season. Middlebury is seventh in the standings with 15 points.
The Jumbos got started quickly tonight with a goal five minutes into the game. Despite losing a face-off in the Amherst end, defensive pressure by
Brennan Horn helped force a weak clearing attempt by the Mammoths that Sedlak stopped along the left boards near the blue line. He passed up to Horn, who sent it back to the Sedlak whose shot from the face-off dot rolled over the right shoulder of Amherst goalie Connor Leslie and dribbled over the goal line for a 1-0 Tufts lead.
Durand would take it from there. The host Mammoths would out-shoot Tufts 41-16 for the game, but Durand made 12 saves in the first period, 16 in the second and then 13 in the third to close out the victory. The shutout is his second of the year and Tufts' fourth of the season.
Bolin's goal at 13:04 of the third period gave Durand and the Jumbos some breathing room. Jumbo
Aidan Lovett poked the puck away from an Amherst defender in the Jumbo zone. He broke away, chased by a Mammoth defender, while Bolin hustled to get into the play. Lovett fed Bolin charging down the middle, and he moved to his backhand and flipped it past Leslie for a 2-0 Tufts advantage.
The Jumbos will look to keep their momentum up when they travel to Hamilton College for a 3 pm game tomorrow.
--JUMBOS--
