Posted: Jan 12, 2016
MALDEN, Mass. – The Suffolk hockey team was shutout by the Jumbos of Tufts in non-conference action Tuesday night at the Malden Valley Forum.
For Tufts, sophomore Brian Brown moved his point streak to three games and sophomore Chad Goldberg had three assists in the win, while junior Mason Pulde picked up his second shutout of the season for the Jumbos with the win in net.
With the win the Jumbos, who now haven't lost in their last five contests, move to 5-4-3 on the season. The Rams fall to 8-4-2 with the loss.
The first period was pretty even offensively between the two teams. The Jumbos had an opportunity to score early when rookie Patrick Lackey had a breakaway opportunity on the Ram's end of the ice. But Dominic Rovero quickly skated down and squashed any opportunity Lackey had to get a shot off on goal.
The Jumbos would have two power play opportunities in the first period, but were not able to score on either. The period ended with the Jumbos having the slight advantage in shots, 11-9.
It was the home team that would take control in the second period, scoring two goals and outshooting their opponents 17-3 in the period. Brown put the Jumbos on the board with his team-leading fifth goal of the season just under nine minutes into the period. Junior Matt Pugh and Goldberg were credited with the helpers.
A little less than three minutes later, senior co-captain Brian Ouellette would add a short-handed goal to put the Jumbos up 2-0. Ouellette intercepted a Ram pass right at the blue line and skated down the ice for the one-on-one with Ram goalie Kevin Venturuso. Ouellette beat Venturuso in the bottom left corner to give the Jumbos the two goal advantage with the short-handed unassisted goal.
The Jumbos added two more goals in the third period to put the contest out of reach for the Rams. Just under four minutes into the period rookie Nicholas Abbene scored his first collegiate goal with Goldberg being credited with his second assist of the evening. About ten minutes later junior Conal Lynch tallied his first score of the season with help from senior co-captain Stewart Bell and Goldberg, his third helper of the evening.
The Rams were able to apply some offensive pressure in the third period, but the Jumbos defense, and goaltender Pulde held visitors off the scoreboard for their second shutout of the season.
The Jumbos had the advantage in shots on the evening, 38-23. Pulde finished with 23 saves in his second shutout of the year. For the Rams, Venturoso tallied 32 saves and Michael Levine played the last five minutes making two saves during that time. The Jumbos were 0-for-3 on power play opportunities, but did score the short-handed goal. The Rams were also 0-for-3 on their power play opportunities.
The Rams will take the ice again on Saturday, Jan. 16 when they travel to Nichols for a 7:40 pm schedule start.