The hockey team clinched home-ice advantage for at least its first playoff game after a solid 4-2 defeat against Plymouth State Tuesday night at the Waterville Valley Ice Arena. The team’s 9-2-1 record in the ECAC Northeast Conference is good for 19 points, enough to clinch at least the fourth seed in the upcoming eight-team playoff. This is the first time in over a decade that the Jumbos will host a playoff game.

“This was a huge win for us,” sophomore forward Jordan Karp said. “Not only does it ensure us home ice advantage, but it is really going to motivate us in the next few games.”

Tufts jumped all over the Panthers right from the start, as the Brown and Blue scored the first four goals of the game. The squad received tallies from some unusual scorers in the four-goal spurt, sophomore defenseman Chad Pessini and junior defenseman Justin Picone. Sophomore goaltender Ian Kell held strong under the rapid fire of Plymouth’s 23 shots, as Tufts’ defense proved mighty once again, seeing solid play from assistant captain Dan Mahoney, junior Scott Hayes, Natan Obed, and Picone.

“We played really well defensively,” Mahoney said. “They were pretty good, despite their record. It was an important win for us, and now we’re really fired up.”

Pessini kicked off the Jumbos’ run of scoring and notched his first career goal with an unassisted tally 3:08 into the first. The Jumbos stretched their lead to 2-0 midway into the second when Obed found the net for his sixth mark of the season, with the help of rookie duo Mike Carceo and Rob LaQuaglia. Just over a minute later, Picone connected for his sixth point of the season.

At 9:53 of the third, senior captain Drew Carleton found his way to the net on a Carceo-Picone assist to push the Brown and Blue to a 4-0 advantage. Carleton appears to have emerged from a midseason scoring slump, as he has scored five goals in the past four games, totaling 19 this season and 75 for his career. Carleton, who leads the team in goals scored, averages an even one goal per game, good enough for seventh among all Division III players.

However, the Panthers broke their silence with 8:22 remaining in the game when Dave Lebel slid one past Kell. Plymouth senior Rich Vega capped off the evening with a power-play goal in the final minute of play to finish the game with a respectable 4-2 score.

“We’re starting to play like we know we’re capable of,” Karp said. “And it couldn’t come at a better time.”

“It was a pretty physcial game,” Mahoney said. “They were a bit chippy at times, talking a little trash to us. But we really stayed focused and stuck with out game plan. We rose above it all and it helped us to win.”

The squad aims to pull of a big victory tonight over third-ranked powerhouse Wentworth College, at Northeastern at 8:15 p.m. The now second-ranked Jumbos enter the match with a slight advantage over Wentworth, leading them by two points. If the team can post a victory tonight, it will have the opportunity to capture a first-place seed heading into postseason action. First place Fitchburg State holds the lead in ECAC action with 20 points, followed by Tufts with 19, and Wentworth and Lebanon Valley trail with a close 17.

“There are four teams that are really even,” Hayes said. “Any of us can take first right now. We can finish in just about any order.”

“I don’t think that we need to do anything differently,” Hayes continued. “We’ve been playing our own game, and have been successful lately. We are really focused because we know that this game is extremely important and that from here on in, every game counts.”