On Friday, the men’s ice hockey team defeated Johnson & Wales University in a shootout to advance to the finals of the 47th Annual Codfish Bowl, where Tufts will take on host UMass Boston this afternoon.
The Jumbos grabbed an early lead when sophomore forward Garrett Sider scored a power play goal fewer than four minutes into the contest. In the first period alone, Johnson & Wales was called for nine penalties, but despite several scoring opportunities for both sides, only Sider found the net.
In the second period, the Jumbos doubled their advantage when junior Dylan Plimmer scored to give Tufts a 2-0 lead. The Johnson & Wales Wildcats were whistled for five more penalties in the second stanza, but stayed in contention on a late goal from sophomore forward Justin Decowski.
Entering the final period of regulation the Jumbos held a slim 2-1 lead, but the Wildcats tied the game at the 6:42 mark on a score from senior Tony Galante. Exactly six minutes later, however, sophomore David Carson scored his first career goal for the Jumbos to regain Tufts’ lead. But the Wildcats were not content to go down easily, and with fewer than three minutes remaining, Johnson & Wales capitalized on a man advantage to tie the game at 3-3 off the stick of junior defender Trevor Jewell, whose goal forced an overtime period in the opening round matchup.
In the five minute extra time period, the Jumbos fired eight shots at Wildcat goalie Matt Cooper, while Tufts senior Scott Barchard saw just one Johnson & Wales attempt. Cooper made every save, however, finishing the game with 53 stops and forcing both teams to decide the afternoon in a shootout.
Both teams missed their first shootout attempt, but after the Wildcats missed their second, Plimmer finished a shot past Cooper to give the Jumbos the advantage. After Johnson & Wales missed its third try, the Jumbos automatically won the shootout period and captured the win, which launched them to 4-5-1 on the season and into Saturday’s finals game.
– by Kate Klots