Hoping for a resounding follow-up to their convincing 7-0 shutout of ECAC rival Fitchburg State last weekend, the men's ice hockey team was bitterly disappointed in its 6-3 loss to Connecticut College on Tuesday. The Jumbos blew a 2-0 lead and failed to provide answers to the uncertainties that have pervaded the squad in the new year.

"This was a frustrating and tough loss for us," senior tri-captain Dan Mahoney said. "We were up a couple goals against a team that we were better than. They got some lucky bounces and we didn't. We shouldn't have lost."

After freshman Ben Delaney Winn and tri-captain senior Scott Hayes put the Jumbos up by two goals, Connecticut College scored five straight to put the game out of reach. Junior Tim Flaherty, who scored the game-tying goal and ended the night with a hat trick, led the Camels to victory. Players and coaches alike attributed the loss to a series of bad breaks, rather than to the low levels of intensity and effort with which Tufts has become familiar.

"I thought we played well in the first period and ok in the second," head coach Brian Murphy said. "We didn't get the bounces. That's hockey. In the Fitchburg game, we got every possible break. Against Conn. College, we hit three posts in the first period."

Mahoney agreed. "We played hard on the whole last night. Obviously, there were some lapses, but it didn't seem like we deserved to lose. It was definitely a frustrating game. Our losses have usually come when we came out with little or no energy, but that wasn't the case here."

Equally frustrating was the Jumbos' lack of proficiency on the power play. Against Connecticut College they were only 1-7 when up a man.

"It was a rough night for the power play," Mahoney said. "They defended it well I thought. They put up a lot of pressure as we came into the zone. We weren't able to get inside too often, and when we did, we were not effective."

While agreeing that the power play was not at top form, Murphy was quick to offer some contradicting analysis.

"They did a good job defending us when we were at a man's advantage, but the 1-7 statistic is a bit misleading. First of all, 1-7 is a good percentage for a lot of teams. Secondly, out of those seven, we only had a full, two-minute power play four times."

An interesting sidebar was Jason Boudrow, who for the second consecutive game went scoreless. For any normal forward the drought would be ignored, but for Boudrow, who averages nearly four points per game, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Teams haven't been playing Jason any differently," Mahoney said. "He's not playing poorly at all; there's no doubt he'll bounce right back."

Murphy concurred: "Jason is fine. He didn't play a lot in the Fitchburg game. He drew a penalty after we were up 5-0, and the game was getting dirty and rough and there was no need to put him back out there. Last game he had some opportunities and didn't get the rolls. It's not a big deal."

Conn. College was a non-conference opponent, which can be considered in both positive and negative lights. On one hand, the loss does not count against Tufts' league record, and as such has no bearing on its seeding for the playoffs. On the other hand, Conn. College is a member of the NESCAC, the conference which Tufts will join next year after leaving the ECAC Northeast. A win against a future conference opponent would have been a good omen for the future.

"We have to put this one behind us quickly," Murphy said. "We have some important league games coming up and this isn't one to dwell on."

Mahoney agreed. "The loss was really frustrating. We want to send a message to these NESCAC schools that we can play with them, and we can, last night we just didn't. But we have a busy week and a half ahead of us with games that mean a lot."

The Jumbos will have little time to rest up, as they charge back into action today against Framingham State.

"Framingham has been up and down," Murphy said. They have some quality wins and some quality losses. They are a team on the cusp of the playoffs, so they are playing for the season. They'll come out intense, and we have to match that."