| Tufts rolls past
St. Michael's, 7-2 By Ted Ryan ESSEX JUNCTION -- Nights like this should age the Ice Knights quickly. Beset by defensive lapses and untimely penalties, the St. Michael's College men's hockey team struggled through a 7-2 ECAC Northeast defeat to Tufts on Wednesday, a loss in which coach Lou DiMasi can only hope his young players learn the value of discipline. Tied 1-1 17 minutes into the first period, the Ice Knights gave up three goals in the next three minutes. Trailing 4-2 late in the second, SMC wracked up penalty minutes at a devastating rate. The result? A one-sided loss that might have been worse had it not been for goalie Simon Theberge (38 saves) and a Tufts power play that produced three goals but had plenty of time to score more. By game's end, the Knights had amassed 37 minutes in penalties, including a five-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct. For one stretch of 9:15, St. Michael's skated at least one player short and, for nearly four minutes, were two players down. Tufts, by contrast, picked up five minors and yielded only three power-play opportunities, one of those for a mere 12 seconds. The Jumbos instead had productive nights from Jason Boudrow (one goal, five assists), Pat Byrne (two goals) and Natan Obed (one goal, three assists) as six players scored. "We need to keep in mind to keep our focus and to make sure we cover and work hard defensively. We had a letdown at the end of the first and second periods. We're a very young team," said DiMasi, who played eight sophomores and four freshmen. "Now we need a couple of good practices to get ready for this weekend." Obed opened the scoring for Tufts only 3:49 into the first, but, Chris Kuthy responded for St. Michael's at 9:36. It remained an even game in score and play until Mike Carceo's goal at 17:03 preceded teammate Byrne's goals at 19:04 and 19:34 for a 4-1 lead after one. Jeremy Coccaro drew St. Michael's to within 4-2 at 1:10 of the second, and the Knights fought to pull close until a succession of penalties ended any SMC chance of recovery. During the extended Tufts' power plays, Boudrow in the second, Dan Mahoney two-men up in the third and Justin Picone at 6:18 of the third finished the scoring. Theberge had a solid performance for the Knights (3-4-0, 2-2-0 Northeast), who have lost three straight. Ben Crapser posted 25 saves for Tufts. |