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   The Jumbos jumped out of their previous weekends' losses to Colby and Oswego with some huge wins over Stonehill (6-2) on Saturday and St. Michael's last Wednesday (5-2). Apparently, they have hit the ground running as Tufts out-shot both teams, Stonehill 32-26 and St. Michael's 33-31.
   The Jumbos started the game with an intensity that remained throughout. Early in the first period, Don Mahoney slipped one past Stonehill on an assist by Natan Obed and Rich Caraviello. Senior captain Drew Carleton scored shortly after on an assist from freshman Mike Carceo and senior Scott Sullivan.
   However, the Chieftains were quick to match the Jumbos with a goal just seconds before the first period buzzer and another within the first minute of the second period. Two minutes later, Sullivan's goal, assisted by Carceo, started the momentum that allowed the Jumbos to lead for the remainder of the game.
   Commenting on this latest scoring blitzkrieg, junior Natan Obed said, "We're used to having Carleton and Sullivan up front playing strong and producing for us on our first line, but this year we have another good line between Carceo, LaQuaglia and myself that's been producing as well."
   When asked about what caused this powerful turnaround in the last week, coach Murphy said, "We've been more disciplined in these last few games. We've been playing more aggressively and within a more organized system."
   This nitty-gritty aggressive play effectively shut down Stonehill's power play attempts, as they only bagged a single goal for nine man-up opportunities. "Fundamentally, we expect to be successful on the penalty kill, which was really important in taking control of the Stonehill game," said Murphy. From the returning players' perspective, this game had a special significance. "Stonehill wanted to get back at us because we knocked them out of the ECAC playoffs last season," said Carleton.
   As the score and penalty kill suggest, the Jumbos certainly crushed any Stonehill attempts avenging last year's loss with a sweet victory. "We played hard and clearly dominated them and the shooting opportunities were just enormous," said Carleton. "We didn't even get a chance to play a lot of our strategy because two-thirds of the time the puck was in their end."
   Speaking of sweet victories, this perfectly described the Jumbos' bout with St. Michael's last Wednesday. Led by a hat trick courtesy of Carceo, this was the first Tufts victory over the Ice Knights since 1996, and marked the end of Tufts' six-game losing streak.
   Tufts out-shot St. Michael's up front and the Jumbo defense kept everything under control in its zone, killing all seven of St. Michael's man-up opportunities. Sophomore goal-tender Ian Kell stopped 29 shots, 12 of which were in the third period.
   "We really buckled down on the penalty kills that night. A lot of credit goes to guys like Dan Mahoney for keeping up solid defense in our end," said Kell.
   Complementing on the team's increased aggressive play, the Jumbo freshmen have been making their voices heard with a number of goals this week. Notably, Carceo's hat trick in the St. Michael's game and freshman Rob LaQuaglia's first two career goals against Stonehill.
   "The freshmen have been playing so well. I knew that Mike was a goal scorer and it is great seeing him put goals in the net," said Carleton.
   However, as Murphy is quick to point out, this new presence is only a part of a larger system. "Their contributions will become greater as the season goes on, but it is the leadership of the older guys that will ultimately make us successful."