Malden, Mass. (December 5)-The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team lost their first game of the year at the hands of the Tufts University Jumbos 4-1 Friday night at Valley Forum II. The loss drops the Hawks to 3-1-0 overall and in league play.

Tufts University hit the scoreboard first as Nick Resor (Westwood, Mass.) took a pass from Mike Vitale (Brookfield, Ill.) and beat Hawk goalie Alex Wyse (Amherst, N.Y.) with 6:32 remaining in the first period. Wyse would finish the period with 10 saves, while Jumbos goaltender Scott Barchard (Reading, Mass.) shut Saint Anselm out with 12 saves.

The Jumbos wasted little time in the second period, when Dylan Cooper (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored just 35 seconds into the stanza off assists from Phil Clark (Norfolk, Mass.) and Andy Davis (Woburn, Mass.) to give them a 2-0 lead.

After a Tufts cross-checking penalty, Hawks sophomore Nick Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.) put Saint Anselm on the board off a feed from sophomore Jim Toomey (Billerica, Mass.) and senior Brian Hartigan (Saugus, Mass.) to cut the lead to 2-1. The Hawks went 1-6 on the power play on the night.

Two minutes later Tufts forward Lindsay Walker (Castlegar, British Columbia) added to the Jumbos lead to make it 3-1.

The Hawks were able to kill three Tufts power-plays late in the second period and into the third period to keep it a 3-1 game. The Jumbos were 0 for 5 with an extra man overall. The final period was played tightly, with a combined total of just nine shots. Saint Anselm made a last-gasp effort by pulling Wyse but the Jumbos put a cap on it with an empty-netter by freshman Matt Amico (Buffalo, NY) for his first collegiate goal with 39 seconds left for the 4-1 final.

Wyse finished the game with 24 saves on 27 shots, while Barchard stopped 22 out of 23 shots.

The Hawks return to action tomorrow, December 6th, as they will travel to Connecticut College for a 3 p.m. start.