MEDFORD, Mass. – The Wesleyan men's hockey team opened the season with a 3-3 tie at Tufts on Friday night, as the Cardinals move to 0-0-1 on the season while the Jumbos hold the same record. The Cardinals held a 3-1 lead late in the second period after Emmet Powell '23 scored on the power play but Tufts answered less than three minutes after the Powell goal and later found the equalizer with just 3:39 remaining as the two sides played to a tie after the five-minute overtime period.
 
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• Stevie O'Connor '22 lit the lamp just 4:11 into play as he scored off a feed from Colin Cobb '23 to put Wesleyan ahead 1-0
• O'Connor played the role of playmaker on the second Cardinal goal just over 10 minutes later as he found Alex Giummo '23 who scored his first career goal to make it 2-0 Wesleyan after one
• Tufts answered back with a Brendan Skarda goal 7:37 into the second period that cut the margin down to 2-1
• With Wesleyan on the power play, Tyler Levine '22 cycled to Matt Zandi '21, G'22 at the point who fed across for Powell and the junior defenseman roofed a shot past Josh Sarlo in the crease and it was back to a two-goal margin in favor of Wesleyan
• Even with the Wesleyan offense firing on all cylinders, the Jumbos didn't back down and managed to find a crucial goal late in the second as Harrison Bazianos made it 3-2 heading into the third
• The Cardinals dominated the shot total in the third period, outshooting Tufts 11-5 but it was the Jumbos who managed to break through off the stick of Tyler Sedlak more than 16 minutes into the period
• Both sides had chances in the OT session, with Wesleyan firing four shots on-goal in the first two minutes only to see Tufts fire four shots on-goal in the final two minutes before the final horn sounded on the season-opening tie

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• O'Connor led the way for Wesleyan, registering one goal and one assist for his first career multi-point night
• Powell scored his second career goal in his second career game played
• Guimmo, playing in just his third career game, registered a game-high seven shots while scoring his first career goal
• March Smith '24 made his Cardinal debut in net and posted 20 saves
• Wesleyan won 43-of-77 faceoffs with O'Connor leading the way going 13-for-18 from the dot while Jeremy Abraham '24 went 7-for-9 

UP NEXT:
Wesleyan heads to New London for a battle with in-state league foe Conn. College at 3 PM. The Camels swept the season series from the Cardinals in 2019-20.