Hockey Earns Spot in NESCAC Final With 6-2 Win Over Colby

CLINTON, NY (March 8, 2025) - For the second straight season, the Tufts University men's hockey team will play in the NESCAC Championship Game after the Jumbos knocked out Colby College 6-2 in the conference semifinals this afternoon.

After the game entered the third period tied at 2-2, the Jumbos scored four times to put away the Mules. The #5 seed Jumbos (12-12-1) eliminated three-seed Colby (14-6-6) after the Mules had won both games in the series during the regular-season.

Tufts will now face top-seed and host Hamilton College in the conference final tomorrow at 2 PM. The Jumbos return to the final after facing Trinity College for the NESCAC title a year ago.

Today Tufts fell behind early when Colby scored a fluky goal just 4:17 into the action. From the left corner Matthew MacDonald tried to feed Bobby Landry who was closing in at the right post. However, the pass deflected into the net off a Tufts defenseman and MacDonald's goal made it 1-0 Mules.

The Jumbos tied it at 11:13 of the first when Cole Dubicki picked up the puck in his own end after an off-target shot by Colby. Dubicki charged up ice into the Mule zone and dropped a pass to defenseman Maddox Lizotte whose blast from the top of the left circle beat Colby's freshman All-Conference goalie Cooper Rautenstrauch.

Little more than a minute later, Tufts benefited from its own fluky goal. After a face-off in the Jumbo zone, senior Tyler Sedlak took the puck and charged past the Colby defense and in on Rautenstrauch. He held for a backhander that Rautenstrauch saved. However, a clearing attempt behind the net by Colby struck a referee and bounced out in front of the goal. Rautenstrauch was still out of position after making the save and Tufts' Harrison Bazianos dove out from behind the net and batted the puck in for a 2-1 Jumbo lead. 

After Tufts had out-shot Colby 16-9 in the first period, Colby had the advantage in the second. The Mules had 18 shots to Tufts' 10 and tied the game on a goal by Tyler Crist. He picked up the puck around his own goal line and skated up ice all the way into the Tufts zone until a pair of Jumbo defenders closed in on him. He used them as a screen and pulled his shot into the top right corner of the net to tie the game at 2-2 with nine minutes remaining in the second period.

The game would go to the third tied at 2-2. Tufts started its four-goal outburst by scoring just 14 seconds into the frame. Defenseman Sylas Oberting kept the puck in at the left point and sent it down to Sedlak on the right side. He fired it to the goal front where Max Resnick had a step on a defender and flipped one past Rautenstrauch for a 3-2 Jumbo lead.

A Colby turnover led to a two-goal Tufts advantage. When a Mule defenseman lost control of the puck in his own end, Dubicki was wide open in the high slot to come upon it and blast one home for a 4-2 score at the 5:34 mark.

The lead expanded to 5-2 when defenseman Chris Throndson sent a puck off the backboards where John Mulvihill was on it and put a tough-angle backhander on goal. Rautenstrauch made that save, but the rebound went to Marcus Sang who converted at 9:21 and Tufts was up three.

Meanwhile, Jumbo junior goalie Gus Bylin was continuing his solid pay at the other end. He would save all 14 shots Colby put on goal in the third period, including five during Colby's last-ditch effort by pulling the goalie. Bylin finished with 39 saves overall.

Tufts put the finishing touches on the win with an empty-net goal by junior Brendan Fennell from Dubicki, who finished with a goal and two assists.

Shots finished 41-39 in favor of Colby, with Rautenstrauch making 33 stops. Neither team scored a power-play goal, with Tufts getting four opportunities and Colby three.