March 1, 2009
Off to Amherst for a 1:00 game time with Amherst in the #1/#8 of the playoffs - Amherst won the regular
season game on our ice 3-1 scoring in each of the periods ---- The first period is well played, Amherst
has more scoring chances and only one penalty on each team - some nice saves by Barchard and in the end
no scoring ----- the pace picks up a little in the second period, Amherst still has the better of the
scoring chances but we put more pressure on their goalie than we did in the first period - Barchard this
period makes a few really big saves, we kill off a 1 1/2 minute 3 on 5 and once again there is no scoring
- only 3 penalties and not too many whistles, the stripes are doing a pretty good job and it ends again
with no scoring ------ the third period starts off really up tempo by both teams, we seem up to the task
but unfortunately at 6:06 Amherst scores a goal that deflects off one of our players - tough break for us
-they follow that up 27 seconds later with another goal and score on a PP at 9:15 to quickly make it
a 3-0 game - we continue to play well very, do not let down and finally score at 14:04 Diaco from
Vitale and Amico - we then have some great opportunities but cannot get a break - we finally pull the
goalie with 2:34 remaining, have several good chances but eventually Amherst gets the open net goal to
ice it with about 30 seconds left - frankly other than that 30 second letdown we played an excellent
third period as had been our habit over the last 4 or 5 games - Amherst is a very good team with more
wins than any other Amherst hockey team so the our team, though very disappointed, has nothing to hang
their head about - they have made Tufts a tough team to play ----- this game brings to an end the
Tufts hockey career of three really good guys and important members of the team - Phil Clark, Drew
Delorey and Jared Melillo - all three will be missed not only for their play but for their positive
attitude the past four years, the program is going in the right direction and their presence has been a big factor in that success ----
note: Scott Barchard was the NESCAC "Player of the Week" for the games on the 20th and 21st,
well deserved
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