The same couldn't be said for the first 20, and because of that, the Flying Dutchmen took a big hit in the ECAC Northeast Division standings.
After falling into a 3-0 first-period hole, the Dutchmen battled back to finally tie the game in the third period, but gave up a rebound goal with just under five and a half minutes left and wound up dropping a 4-3 decision to the Tufts University (Mass.) Jumbos yesterday afternoon at Hersheypark Arena.
The loss not only snapped a six-game winning streak for the Dutchmen, it enabled Tufts to move into a tie with them in the league standings in points and left the Jumbos well ahead of the Dutchmen in the loss column. Tufts, with three games in hand on the Dutchmen, is now 6-0-0 in league play. Lebanon Valley fell to 6-3-0 in the league.
"We just didn't come out and play," said Lebanon Valley's Greg Kutchma. "We started playing better as the game went on and we came back, but we didn't do a good job in the first period."
"We did not play the first period," said an obviously disappointed Al MacCormack, Lebanon Valley's coach. "We weren't in synch. In the first period, we had poor defensive coverage, and that was too much of a deficit against this team (Tufts). They're too good a team."
Still, Tufts coach Brian Murphy wasn't doing too much celebrating.
"We escaped with a win," he said. "They're a good team."
Except in the first period. Glaring errors in the defensive zone by the Dutchmen enabled the Jumbos to score two quick goals, both coming on wide open shots from the slot. Rob LaQuaglia, the team's leading scorer, netted the first when he one-timed a Scott Sullivan feed through Lincoln Matlock's pads before the Lebanon Valley goalie could square himself.
Just over two minutes later, the Dutchmen turned the puck over in their own zone, and with three players already at neutral ice, there was no defense against what amounted to a 3-on-2 for the Jumbos. Tufts stole a clearing pass at the blue line and quickly set up, enabling Mike Carceo to feed Sullivan in the slot for the easy goal.
Tufts made it 3-0 when Sullivan chipped in a short rebound on a power play with two minutes left in the period.
Lebanon Valley began its comeback in the second period, ending Ian Kell's shutout bid midway through the period when Jason Kilcoyne snapped off a shot from low on the left side off Kell's blocker pad and in while the Dutchmen were skating 5-on-3.
Another two-man advantage late in the period resulted in the second Lebanon Valley goal as Chris White scored on a shot through a screen from above the left circle.
Lebanon Valley found itself killing off a full two minutes of a two-man Tufts advantage late in the period after Dan Fox and Tim DeVuono picked up simultaneous minors at 18:50, but Tufts managed only one shot before the period ended and was unable to get anything on net in the carryover 50 seconds at the start of the third period. That set the stage for DeVuono, who tied the game with a wrap-around goal at 7:11.
From that point on, Kell came up big, and at 14:39 Pete Schieffelin popped a short rebound into an open net to give the Jumbos their margin of victory.
"We took some stupid penalties in the second period," said Murphy, "but we told the kids (between the second and third periods) to just settle down. We have a fairly experienced team, so we just said we have to get back to work."
Kell, who stopped 49 of the 52 shots he faced, also drew praise from Murphy.
"He's been playing real well the last few games," said Murphy. "It's good to have a hot goalie going into February."
The game was marred by an altercation following the final whistle when tempers flared on both teams. Lebanon Valley's Jamie Taylor wound up receiving a spearing major and a game disqualification penalty as a result of the brief melee, meaning he will be ineligible to play in Lebanon Valley's next game, that at Wentworth next weekend.
Lebanon Valley dressed Jeremy Felt as the back-up goalie for the game. Goalie Kevin Block left the team earlier in the week to return home to be with his family following the sudden death of his father.
