After last season's overtime loss to Fitchburg State in the Northeast ECAC semifinals, the Tufts hockey team was determined to emerge atop their conference this season. This will be the Jumbos' last chance for retribution, though, as they will be moving up into the more competitive NESCAC conference next year.

"I don't think there is any reason that we should be expecting anything else [except winning the conference]," senior co-captain Dan Mahoney said. "It would be a great way to leave the league."

This may not be an easy task, though, since the Jumbos were ranked fifth in the preseason coaches poll, behind, among others, Fitchburg State. Defending ECAC champion Wentworth College leads the pack with 154 points, followed by Fitchburg State and Lebanon Valley with 133, and UMass-Dartmouth with 128. Tufts was close behind with 115 points.

On paper, the Jumbos appear to have taken some huge hits in the off-season, losing their top two leading scorers in Drew Carleton and Scott Sullivan, which may have caused their lower-than-expected ranking. But with the return of junior Jason Budrow, who led the team in scoring his freshman year, and a solid defensive lineup, the team should be able to compete for the title.

"We don't really want to pay to much attention to [the preseason rankings], but we should be seeded higher," Mahoney said.

"We are clearly better than that," coach Brian Murphy said about the ranking. "We are going to win the ECAC Northeast. We are continuing to make progress and we need to take care of all of the league games."

The team will begin their in-conference schedule on Sunday in a match-up against Suffolk, a team that Tufts traditionally demolishes, most recently in an 8-4 pounding early last season. Things are not looking promising for Suffolk, ranked 13th in the preseason poll. Despite being heavily favored, Murphy will not let his team go into the game halfheartedly, noting that every conference game is of utmost importance.

"We have to win conference games," he said. "The Suffolk game counts as much as anything else. After that game we will look at the next game. We are not going to be looking ahead to February yet, when we will be playing some of the top teams in the conference."

Mahoney shares his coach's sentiments, realizing that every game needs to be played as intensely as possible. "We aren't worried [about Suffolk], but we are not going to take them lightly," he said. "Whoever we are playing we are all going to be fired up and take it one game at a time."

The team's schedule increases in difficulty as the season goes on, with a number of rather weak opponents in the first month.

"There aren't any teams that we can show up to win," senior Natan Obed said. "We have to show up and play hard every time we go out."

While the schedule should prove to be tame before winter break, the Jumbos will have a string of tough games to finish up the regular season, including matches against top-ranked Wentworth, Fitchburg State, UMass-Dartmouth, and Lebanon Valley all within a three-week span.

"Wentworth has a decent team," Obed said. "They are hardworking and have a bunch of juniors and seniors."

More than anyone on the schedule, the Jumbos will be gunning for longtime rival Fitchburg State, which defeated Tufts in the regular and post season last year.

"It's definitely a bit of a rivalry," Obed said. "We have closed the gap on them in the last few years, though. We used to get blown out by them my freshman year, and I know all of the seniors hope we will be able to beat them handily this year."

Fitchburg State may have lost some steam in the off-season, since it has begun this season with an inauspicious 2-2 record. Although the Jumbos will have to wait until Feb. 3 for the much-anticipated rematch, the game will likely mark a pivotal point in the season, as both teams should be competing for playoff spots.

If there is a year to beat up on Fitchburg State this will have to be the one, since Tufts will enter the cutthroat NESCAC conference next season. While this is a huge step up for the program, wins may become scarce in the immediate future.

"I'm sure recruiting will be easier, alluring better talent into the program," Obed said. "It might be a tough transition, though. The NESCAC is the best league in Division III in the United States. It's a huge step up for the program. The hockey team has made huge strides since I was a freshman."

The 18-school ECAC conference will shrink to 16 teams in the off-season, while the NESCAC conference will grow to ten teams, including two ranked in the national top ten preseason poll, with Middlebury 5th and Williams tenth. NESCAC teams will have numerous ECAC opponents, each type of game holding a different kind of importance.

"The in-conference games count more," Mahoney said, "but the other non-conference games are just as intense because we want to show people we can compete against teams outside of the conference as well."

In their last stint in the ECAC conference, the Jumbos are looking to turn some heads and bring home a championship banner before they have to face the wrath of teams like Middlebury or Williams, perennial national contenders.

"This will be the year that Tufts finds out it has a hockey team," Obed said confidently.