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   The hockey team lost its game vs. Fitchburg State Wednesday night by the score of 4-3 in overtime. Tufts was down 3-1 in the third period and scored two goals to tie the game but could not avoid the loss in the extra period.
   To reach the Fitchburg St. game, the Jumbos claimed a 7-4 victory over the rough and tumble Johnson & Wales University Wildcats in ECAC Northeast Division Quarterfinal this past Saturday. Over 400 Tufts students made their way to Babson College's rink to see their Jumbos play. "It was great to have the support of the students, a definite boost for our guys. Having a lot of fans certainly distracts the other team and keeps them from being focused," commented coach Brian Murphy.
   Tufts fans showed their school spirit by heckling the downtrodden Wildcats with chants and showing a common support for the boys in brown and blue. Few instances better exemplify the latter than when a rather disturbing dead fish cut through the early second period air and bid farewell to its entrails as it slid, interestingly enough, right in front of the Wildcats' bench. After that, any previous naysayers had no doubt that it was "go time" for the Tufts Jumbos.
   "I don't think people realize how important having a large crowd is to a team . It makes you push harder when you have so many people behind you supporting," noted senior captain Drew Carleton.
   The eradication of Johnson & Wales' playoff contention began early in the game. Though Wildcat junior Bill Saltzman managed a goal within the first minute, scoring magnet Carleton trounced this attempt with his first of the night less than three minutes later. Following Carleton's goal, junior Natan Obed and senior Scott Sullivan both capitalized on power-play opportunities at 12:15 and 14:06 respectively, closing the first period with the score at 3-1 Tufts.
   The second period didn't start off with much promise for the Wildcats, as Tufts senior Tom Feeley showed the puck that it wasn't too good for its home within the first six minutes of the period. However, Johnson and Wales returned the favor with Tory Jacob's goal at 12:55, bringing the score to 4-2. The Jumbos bounced back with Carleton's second goal of the night, two minutes before the second period's closing buzzer, creating a healthy lead at 5-2.
   Carleton managed to turn what was a "healthy lead" into clear domination by completing his hat trick with a spectacular goal at 5:26 into the third. As freshman Mike Carceo attempted to set up a shot while in close proximity to the right side of the net, he chose instead to quickly pass it farther up the ice to the rapidly descending Carleton. That pass caught the already slow Wildcat defense off guard, allowing for a picture perfect goal. Despite the adversity, the next couple of Wildcats goals showed that they wouldn't be stomped out of competition by our very large elephants without a fight. At 16:23, Johnson and Wales freshman Scott Graham beat sophomore Ian Kell, dragging the fallen Wildcats' score up another notch. Two minutes later, the Jumbos began to feel a bit of pressure as Saltzman managed his second tally of the night, bringing the score to 6-4. In the end, however, all was lost for the Wildcats when freshman phenomenon Rob LaQuaglia carefully placed an empty net goal, solidifying the Tufts victory at 7-4.
   Without a doubt, Tufts' power play and penalty-killing teams were on fire Saturday night, as Obed, Sullivan and Carleton all completed on man-up opportunities. "We struggled a bit in the middle of the season with our power-play . But we've refined it so we were doing it pretty well and I guess we just came out on Saturday night clicking on all cylinders," commented Carleton.
   "It was our special teams that kept us in the game," noted Murphy. Special teams played an important role in this game considering nine penalties were called on each team. Murphy was also not surprised that each team racked up the same number of penalties, "It's a playoff game, and referees generally try and gain control to keep things even."
   Certainly, Kell's backbreaking performance Saturday night requires special recognition. Ian managed 28 huge saves in Tufts' end and even took a few checks from the ever-chippy Wildcats. "It just took a lot of poise . It was tempting to fight back, but I know my only job out there is to fight pucks. Overall our tempers were pretty controlled during the game," commented Kell. In playoff competition it's only natural for everyone to look to the goalie, heaping perhaps an inordinate and unreasonable amount of responsibility on him. "I think it helps in the playoffs to get more intense . I liked the pressure, it helped my game . We've lost six years in a row now in quarterfinals, so I really wanted to win that night," explained Kell.