The Hamilton College men’s hockey team scored three times in the final minutes to pull away from a one-goal game and hand Tufts University a 6-3 NESCAC loss on Friday night at Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink.
Box score
Pat Curtis ’15 assisted on four of the goals for Hamilton (4-5-4, 3-3-2 NESCAC). The Continentals had scored a goal in each period before Tufts pulled to within 3-2 with 8:47 left in the third. Hamilton scored twice to open up a three-goal advantage and -- after the Jumbos scored their final goal -- sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Scott Vazquez '16 picked up the game winner on his second goal of the night and third this season, taking a pass from Marko Brelih '16 just 47 seconds after Tufts had closed to within a goal. Joe Rausch ’15 also assisted on the game-winning score.
The Jumbos (5-7-1, 2-4-1) have lost nine of their last 11 to Hamilton.
Kenny Matheson ’16 recorded his first collegiate multi-goal game and Robbie Murden ’17 contributed a goal and an assist. The Curtis-Matheson-Murden line totaled eight points and had a hand in all but one of the Continentals’ even-strength goals.
Matheson opened the scoring, putting the Continentals up 1-0 the first time they took the puck into the Tufts zone. Curtis assisted on the goal, which came 86 seconds into the first period, and on a score by Vazquez that made it 2-0 just 77 seconds into the second period. Bennett Hambrook '17 was credited with a secondary assist on the Vazquez goal.
Hamilton’s Zach Arnold ’15 made 35 saves -- a season-high total for a regulation game -- and held the Jumbos scoreless until the 8:58 mark of the second when Brian Brown ’18 scored his eighth goal of the year. Brown’s goal, which came off a rebound of a shot by Tyler Voigt ’15 that was initially saved, was the first given up by the Continentals in 88:08.
Matheson scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season 6:22 into the third period with linemates Murden and Curtis picking up the assists. Tufts scored on a power play to close within a goal at 11:13 of the third. Conal Lynch ’17 picked up the goal with just three seconds left in the Jumbos’ man advantage. Hamilton, which owns the NESCAC’s third-best penalty-killing unit, had thwarted the first three Tufts power plays.
A power-play goal by Truman Landowski '17 gave Hamilton a two-goal lead with 2:39 left before Blake Edwards ‘15 scored his first goal of the year for Tufts with 1:45 remaining. Murden closed out the scoring by sliding a pass from Curtis just inside the far post of an empty Jumbo net with 46 seconds left.
Curtis, who recorded his 14th career multi-point game, now has a team-leading 10 assists this winter. He and Murden have 14 points apiece, with Matheson leading the Continentals with 16 points.
Mason Pulde ’17 made 31 saves in net for the Jumbos, who remain winless at Sage Rink. They trail the overall series 5-14-0.
Hamilton closes out its four-game homestand on Saturday, Jan. 17, with a 3 p.m. game against Connecticut College. Tufts, which is in the midst of a stretch of seven consecutive games away from home, plays at nationally ranked No. 10 Amherst College on Saturday.
