Men's Hockey Falls to Williams 4-2

MALDEN, MA (November 23, 2024) - The Tufts University men's ice hockey team fell to the Williams College Ephs in a hard fought 4-2 New England Small College Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon at the Malden Valley Forum.

The Jumbos (2-2-0, 2-2-0 NESCAC) employed a different strategy to start off against the Ephs (2-2-0, 2-2-0 NESCAC), as they used their bodies to great effect. The opening minutes saw Tufts hammer the Williams skaters into the boards. The Jumbos were even throwing out a few open ice hits, and it began to seem that physicality would win the day as the Jumbos made good progress into the Williams zone. 

Tufts soon ran into a problem; Williams goaltender Cal Sandquist. He was fantastic between the pipes for the Ephs, and shut the Jumbos out in the first 20 minutes, making 10 saves on 10 shots faced. Williams did a good job adjusting to the Jumbos physical play, and soon found their footing in the Tufts end. 

The Ephs scored first, and it could not have been more unexpected. As Tufts was on the power play, Owen Stadheim picked off a pass on his own blue line, and immediately exploded through the neutral zone to distance himself from the backchecking Jumbos. He separated himself from them enough to go one on one with Tufts netminder Tade Carman. The freshman goalie was left helpless as Stadheim went over his blocker side to score the short handed breakaway.

The Ephs were off and rolling, and they found the back of the net again before the end of the first. Jack Sabre pounded home a one time effort past Carman, and the Ephs hit the locker room up 2-0.

The Jumbos changed up their gameplan for the second period, going back to their fast paced tempo, but the Ephs were settled in. The visitors dominated the neutral zone, which allowed them to generate offense with ease. In the ninth minute of play, they converted another chance. This time it was David Vieten who was waiting on the weak side, giving him ample time to fire a shot as Carman shifted across his crease. Vieten scored past Carman, and the Ephs went up by three.

Despite the commanding lead, the Ephs were still hungry for another goal, as they continued to control the neutral zone, making clean changes difficult as they defended. Vietan played a great pass around the boards, finding Connor Fitzpatrick at the point. Fitzpatrick wasted no time in exploiting the shooting lane he was allowed, firing a shot towards goal to score the fourth for Williams.

The Jumbos were left with an uphill battle, and they made a dent late in the second period by scoring twice in 10 seconds. First it was Brennan Horn who intercepted an Ephs pass in the attacking zone before spinning and shooting past Sandquist to get the Jumbos on the board. The Jumbos won the draw, and pushed into the attacking zone once again. Max Resnick slid the puck across the slot to senior forward Harrison Bazianos, giving the powerful forward a great shooting window. Bazianos popped the puck past Sandquist, and gave the Jumbos a second goal.

The score held through the rest of the second, and the third period saw each team battle in the neutral zone. Each side managed eight shots on goal, and despite a two-man advantage in the final minute, the Jumbos would not score. The Ephs would head home victorious, as the Jumbos ran out of time.

They will be back in action on Tuesday for the first non-conference bout of the season, hosting Babson for a 7:00 pm puck drop.