Coming off two losses two weekends ago, the Wesleyan men’s hockey team resumed play this past Friday against the Tufts Jumbos. The Cardinals were supposed to play both Tufts and Connecticut College, but because of the outrageous New England weather, the Freeman Athletic Center was completely shut down on Saturday and Sunday due to the danger of a possible roof collapse throughout the structure. Nevertheless, the Cardinals and the Jumbos safely squared off Friday night.
The Jumbos opened the scoring just five minutes into the first period, capitalizing on a power play. Soon, however, the Cardinals responded on a power play goal of their own, scored by co-captain Tom Salah ’12. The tables would turn once more in the first, with the Jumbos scoring on another power play with just over five minutes remaining to take a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Tufts would start the second period a tad too aggressively, racking up four penalties in the first seven minutes of play. On the fourth penalty, the Cardinals tied the game at two off a goal from Adam Kaiser ’13, with Salah notching the assist. Wesleyan continued to pressure the Jumbos throughout the second and scored another goal just three minutes later to take the lead at 3-2. Ryan White ’13 hacked one in past the Tufts goaltender off an assist from Donald Kleckner ’13. The Jumbos refused to go quietly, capitalizing on a power play to even the score midway through the second. The evenly-contested battle would see the Cardinals swoop ahead yet again as John Guay ’13 scored late in the second to put the Cardinals on top headed into the third.
The third period saw the fewest penalties while Tufts failed to create any offense to contend with the Cardinals. Nick Craven ’13 and Brett Bandazian ’12 would go on to score a goal each for Wesleyan as the Cardinals soundly beat the Jumbos 6-3.
Wesleyan will face the Connecticut College Camels this Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. in a make-up match. The Camels are right ahead of the Cardinals in the standings, and a win for Wesleyan would put the men’s team in a solid position for a playoff birth.
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