MALDEN, MA (January 24, 2025) – Wesleyan University freshman goalie Patrick McDevitt made 49 saves to record the first shutout of his collegiate career in a 2-0 Cardinals' win at Tufts University in NESCAC men's hockey play Friday night at Valley Forum.
The Jumbos outshot the Cardinals 49-20, but could not get one past McDevitt. Wesleyan scored a power-play goal by junior Jack Marottolo in the first period and then added an empty goal with a minute left in regulation.
The Cardinals improve to 3-9-3 overall and 2-6-1 in the league, avenging a 5-3 loss to the Jumbos in the season-opener back in November. Tufts falls to 5-8-1 and 3-6 in the conference.
Marottolo scored on a man-advantage 11:44 into the first period as the visitors took a 1-0 lead. Junior Ethan Davidson passed the puck down below the goal line to senior Owen Sweet on the right side. He sent a quick pass out to Marottolo on the lower edge of the circle and he snuck a shot past Tufts goalie Gus Bylin.
Less than two minutes later, Bylin would stop a break-away by Wes freshman Andrew Haxton to keep it a one-goal game. McDevitt made 18 saves in the opening stanza and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead to the locker room.
It was more of the same in the second period as Tufts earned a wide margin in shots on goal, but McDevitt was on the spot each time. He had stopped all 33 of Tufts' shots through two.
Tufts would get its lone power-play chance of the game early in the third and put two shots on McDevitt, but he saved both. The Jumbos had a big penalty-kill in the middle of the frame, including shot blocks by sophomore
Sylas Oberting and junior
John Mulvihill. However, McDevitt was able to stuff any Jumbo momentum, and also a shot by Tufts senior
Harrison Bazianos hit the crossbar.
The Jumbos pulled Bylin with 1:11 remaining in regulation. However, after a Tufts time-out, the Cardinals won the puck after a wide Tufts shot and sophomore Connor Sutherland sent Sweet down the left boards. He flicked a back-hand shot into the open net from just inside the blue line for a 2-0 Wesleyan advantage.
Sweet had a goal and an assist to lead the Cardinals. Bylin finished with 18 saves for the Jumbos. Mulvihill blocked four shots overall and won 10 of 15 face-offs in a strong effort for Tufts. The Jumbos won 47 of 76 face-offs overall (.618).
--JUMBOS--
