By DAVID PEVEAR
Sun Staff

Tufts University provides a difficult challenge for the mind. And hockey provides a difficult challenge for the body -- but first you must get to the ice.

Tufts has no rink of its own, so the Jumbos take their ice where they can get it: Medford today, Somerville tomorrow, Stoneham the following day, Cambridge whenever.

Eight different rinks have been used for practices this season. The Jumbos used their fifth "home" rink this season when they played their seventh and final home game last night against UMass-Dartmouth at Boston College.

To be a Jumbo on skates requires having your nose in a book, a nose for the puck and a nose for Zamboni fumes, so you can find every MDC rink within 10 miles of Medford Square.

"It's not an ideal situation," concedes Tufts coach Brian Murphy. "But if you asked any of these players if they'd rather be playing somewhere else, they'd say no."

Those who emphatically believe there is no place like Tufts include senior forward Scott Sullivan and junior defenseman Dan Mahoney, economics majors from Tewksbury who are assistant captains of a Tufts team that was 10-7 heading into last night, including tied for second in Division 3 ECAC Northeast with an 8-2 league mark.

About the rink-hopping, Sullivan says, "It's pretty hard, but you get used to it. It's just that this semester I'm also busy starting to look for jobs."

His hockey career nearly ended two years ago by vertigo, Sullivan leads Tufts in scoring with 14 goals and 17 assists.

This time next year he hopes to be working on Wall Street and scoring Gretzky numbers in an adult league.

Mahoney, a talented high school player who has discovered off-season workouts and become a fantastic college player, is in Murphy's estimation one of the five best players in ECAC Northeast.

"Offensively he's been contributing great (fifth on the team in scoring: 4 goals, 10 assists) and defensively he's been great," says Murphy. "He's strong. He handles the puck well. He shoots it well."

Together the two kids from Tewksbury have helped Tufts' hockey program continue its steady rise since narrowly escaping the budget axe five years ago. Today Tufts' program is a financially secure but homeless NCAA Division 3 tournament contender that continues to attract a bright, resilient breed of players like Sullivan and Mahoney.

"We've come a long way since I've been here," says Sullivan, like Mahoney a member of Tewksbury's 1995 Division 2 state championship squad. "We went from the bottom of the league when I was a freshman to near the top now. It says a lot about the guys we have here and the coaching staff."

Mahoney even enjoys the occasional home game at LoConte MDC Rink in Medford.

"Playing in some of the smaller rinks reminds me of my high school days at the old Janas Rink," he says with a laugh.

Sullivan and Mahoney were drawn to Tufts by its academic reputation and their own honest appraisal of their hockey abilities (although Tewksbury coach Bob Ware believes Mahoney is a Division 1 player).

"I knew I wanted to still play hockey," says Sullivan, "and Division 3 (no scholarships) was the way to go."

But eight games into his sophomore season, Sullivan awoke one morning feeling sick. Four hours later his dorm room was spinning -- or at least to him it felt like it was spinning. Sullivan got to a local hospital and found that it was spinning, too. He was diagnosed with vertigo -- an inner-ear disorder that disrupts balance. The spinning continued at a high pace for three weeks before lessening.

"Obviously, I couldn't play hockey," says Sullivan. "I didn't know if I'd ever play again."

For a long while sudden head movements continued to send Sullivan's head spinning. He tried catching a baseball and couldn't. He stayed off skates that entire summer, returning for captains' practices in the fall of 1998.

"It was the longest I had been off skates since I was 6 years old," says Sullivan.

"I knew if he was able to come back, he would," says Murphy. "That's the type of kid he is. He relies on his size (6-2, 195) and speed to get to the net. And once he got his wind back, he was back in there contributing."

Murphy says Sullivan this season has been the Jumbos' most consistent forward.

"I really feel back in the swing of things this year," says Sullivan, who has had no reoccurrences of dizziness since returning to the rinks last season.

Tufts' players hear wonderful talk about building a rink on campus, but they don't ever expect to play in it. Tufts began playing hockey in the 1930s but the sport was discontinued from 1960-86. Murphy, an Arlington native, captained the 1994-95 team around which dollar-giving alumni rallied when the budget axe threatened.

Murphy, 26, is in his second season as Tufts' first full-time hockey coach. The Jumbos finished 13-10-1 last season.

"Because he played here not long ago, (Murphy) knows what we go through with classes and the practice schedule," says Mahoney. "He knows the game and he's approachable."

Tufts may not yet have a rink, but it has a winning record and a team grade-point average of 3.2.

"It's a demanding school and it's not easy bumping rink to rink," says Murphy. "It really speaks to the kind of kid we get at this university."

Kids who pass most tests, including the one severely testing their love for hockey.