MALDEN, Mass. – In a back-and-forth thriller, the Wesleyan men's hockey team needed all five goals to defeat a Tufts side desperate for a win, as the Cardinals managed to pull out a 5-4 win on Saturday afternoon. Wesleyan (11-2-2, 7-1-2 NESCAC) prolongs their unbeaten run, which now stands at eight games (6-0-2), while the Jumbos (5-10-1, 2-7-1 NESCAC) have lost four straight.
The top forward line of the Cardinals was on their A game in this one, with
Go Uemura '23 (one goal, three assists) and
Wiggle Kerbrat '23 (two goals, one assist) both setting new single-game career-high point totals.
Patrick Morrissey '25 also had a three-point day (all assists) as three Cardinals put up new career-highs in a five-goal outburst on the road.
Owen Sweet '25 was first to score just under eight minutes into the opening period. Uemura slid a cross-ice pass to Morrissey above the right faceoff pot on the power play. Taking his time, Morrissey skated almost to the end boards and flung a puck toward the crease that was deflected in by Sweet.
Marc Smith '24 was at his best in the first period, turning aside all 12 Tufts shots on-goal to keep the Cardinals out in front with a 1-0 lead after one.
Four goals were scored in the second period, the first coming off the stick of Kerbrat as a successful forecheck saw
Colin Cobb '23 work the puck off a Jumbo defender. Kerbrat took the loose puck and somehow managed to find space to fire the puck in as his angle was tight to the right of the Jumbo goal.
Tufts responded with their first goal just 40 seconds later, with Brendan Fennell finishing a 2-on-1 break with a wrist shot past Smith.
Uemura came up with a response to Tufts' opening goal more than seven minutes later. With Wesleyan again on the power play, Morrissey took the puck near the blue line and wristed a puck to Kerbrat just above the crease. Kerbrat then deflected the puck to the back post where Uemura was waiting on the doorstep for the open net power play goal.
Trailing by two goals for most of the period, the Jumbos cut the deficit to just one with only 16 seconds left in the period as Alex Lycett finished a goal off transition up-ice to make it 3-2 Cardinals heading into the third.
Wesleyan again had a response to a Tufts goal, this time from
Andrew Pratt '23 as the puck found its back down behind goal. Pratt carried the puck all the way around the boards, towards the blue line where he cut in, and made a deke past a Jumbo skater. Still carrying the puck, Pratt was now in the slot and he saw open space, wristing home a goal to restore the Cardinals' two-goal lead.
Back-and-forth play went as Tufts managed to find another quick response to a Cardinal goal, this time just 31 seconds later as Fennell netted his second of the night. Then 4:19 later, the Jumbos tied the score as a shot from the blue line hit a Cardinal defender and fell right to Max Resnick who buried his chance.
The game-winner came just 1:08 later as Uemura forced a turnover in the Jumbos' defensive end and with Kerbrat skating towards open ice in the slot, he received the pass from Uemura and made no mistake. Kerbrat toe-dragged with the puck, sending the Tufts goalie Gustave Bylin towards the near post. With the goalie off the far post, Kerbrat sent a wrist shot in the opposite direction of his skating and found the back of the net.
After Kerbrat's second of the game, Tufts hemmed the puck in the Cardinals' defensive end for most of the remaining eight-plus minutes to no avail as Smith made three key saves to secure a Wesleyan victory.
Wesleyan's eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) is just one shy of the program record set back in the 2017-18 season. The Cardinals look to match that record on Tuesday with a trip to Albertus Magnus. Opening puck drop is set for 4:00 PM.
