HARTFORD, Conn. – The tenth-ranked Trinity College Men's Hockey team outlasted visiting Tufts University, 3-1, in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tilt at the Koeppel Community Sports Center Friday night. The Bantams rise to 12-2-1 overall and 8-0-1 in conference action, while the Jumbos drop to 5-3-1 in the NESCAC and 8-5-2 on the year.
As the clocked ticked towards 11 minutes remaining in the first period, Bantams senior Devan Tongue grabbed a loose puck behind the Jumbos goal and found classmate Christian Hayes in front of the net. Hayes ripped a shot that was deflected wide of the net, but ricocheted to junior Nicholas Siffringer, who placed a shot over the pads of Tufts senior goaltender Peyton Durand to hand the Bantams a 1-0 lead.
With 14:09 to play in the 2nd period, Tufts capitalized on a 2-on-1 advantage in the Bantams zone as #19 connected with #9 for the one-timer past Trinity sophomore goalie Devon Bobak to even the score at 1-1.
With the score locked at 1-1 late in the third period, the Bantams pulled ahead as junior Eamon Doheny feed senior Devan Tongue in the Jumbos zone, and Tongue fired a shot through traffic and beat Durand top corner, gloveside to lift Trinity to a 2-1 advantage.
The Bantams potted an insurance goal in the final minute of action as senior Casey Rhodes blocked a shot from the point and sprinted out on a breakaway towards an empty Tufts net. Rhodes tucked the puck into the back of the net to send Trinity to the 3-1 victory.
"Overall, I'm really happy with our performance tonight," said Trinity Head Coach Matthew Greason. "All four lines played pretty well, forwards and defense, and obviously Bobak is Bobak, and when he's our goalie we have a great chance to win. Obviously when it's a 1 vs. 2 game, and you win it, you're going to be pleased. We deserved to win tonight. We just need to clean up some of the puck decisions in critical areas and we have to keep playing like we did tonight and during the last 50 minutes of the Bowdoin game. It took us a little while in the second semester to get back to that form, and hopefully this is our identity for the rest of the year."
The Bantams dominated Tufts in the shot column, 38-14, and had the edge in the faceoff circle, 33-29, during the game. Bobak stopped 13 shots for Trinity, while Durand made a game-high 35 saves for the Jumbos.
The Bantams will be back on the ice Saturday afternoon for a NESCAC clash with Connecticut College (5-7-2, 3-6-0) at the Koeppel Community Sports Center. Puck drops at 4:00 p.m.
TRINITY ATHLETICS
