NEW LONDON, CT (February 4, 2023) – Host Connecticut College scored three times on power plays, including twice in the decisive third period, to take a 6-4 NESCAC men's hockey victory over Tufts University on Saturday night at Dayton Arena.
Tufts had tied the score at 3-3 with a power play goal of their own early in the third by
Sam Miller. However, the Camels got extra-man goals from Brett Moccia and Rocco Testa-Basi later in the period to build a 5-3 advantage. A Jumbo goal by
Harrison Bazianos made it 5-4, but Conn closed out the win with an empty-net goal.
Connecticut College (5-15-0, 2-12-0) sweeps the weekend series against the Jumbos, including last night's 4-3 overtime victory at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston. The Jumbos drop to 6-13-1 and 3-10-1 in the league. The weekend saw a total of 17 goals scored in the two games.
The Jumbos skated out to a 1-0 lead tonight with the only goal of the first period. On a two-on-one break,
Liam O'Hare slid a pass by a prone Camel defenseman to
John Mulvihill for a goal at 16:21 of the first.
Connecticut College answered with three consecutive goals in the second to take a 3-1 advantage. Younghoon Choi at 8:31, Sean Detloff at 10:33 and Testa-Basi on a power-play at the 15-minute mark were the goal scorers.
However, the Jumbos would score with one second left in the second period to get within 3-2. The rebound of a shot by
Mason Kohn went off the left side boards and from there
Brendan Fennell slapped it past Camel goalie Cam Fernandez to get the Jumbos within a goal.
Awarded a power play early in the third, Tufts then tied the game with Miller's goal. After making a nice play to keep the puck in the Camel zone with his right skate, Miller would take a pass from
Cole Dubicki and send a light wrist shot through traffic for his seventh goal of the season two minutes into the third.
However, the hosts were able to take advantage of two out of their three power-play chances in the third with the goals by Moccia (4:28) and Testa-Basi again (11:25). Bazianos would send a feed from
Brennan Horn though a screen and into the net at 15:37 to close the game to 5-4. Tufts pulled goalie Gus Bylin with 1:23 remaining in regulation, but it was the Camels who took advantage of it sealing the win with an empty-net goal by Choi.
Shots finished 31-22 in favor of the Camels. Bylin made 25 saves for the Jumbos (10 in the first period) and Fernandez totaled 18 for Connecticut College.
Tufts is on the road next weekend at Amherst and Hamilton as they look to earn a position into the upcoming NESCAC Tournament during the final two weekends of the regular-season.
--JUMBOS--
