By Ryan O'Donnell '08

AMHERST, MA - The Amherst College men's hockey team battled for a critical NESCAC victory over Tufts University on Friday night 3-2. With the victory, Amherst moves to 9-5-3 (7-3-2) while the Jumbos fall to 6-10-1 (3-7-2).

Amherst jumped ahead in the first period at the 15:10 mark when junior defenseman Jeff Landers (Hanover, MA) smashed a slap-shot from the blue-line that whistled through the legs of Tufts netminder Issa Azat. Junior forward Joel Covelli (Carlisle, ON) and senior forward Gregg Adamo (Manalapan, NJ) each collected assists on the goal.

Tufts responded with a pair of power-play scores of their own in the second period. During a 5-on-3, Tufts defenseman Doug Wilson fired a snap shot into the top corner. Fredrik Mellgren gave the Jumbos the lead eight minutes later during a 4-on-3 advantage.

The Jeffs tied the game during the power-play 1:48 into the third period when senior forward Andrew Schremp (Denver, CO) corralled a Rylan Burns (Jasper, Alberta) slap shot and calmly beat Azat with a backhander. Three minutes later, Brendan Powers (Walpole, MA) took a feed from Covelli and sniped a shot from the right circle into the top corner for the game winner.

Amherst rookie goaltender Cole Anderson (Sylvan Lake, Alberta) finished with 21 saves while Azat made 24 stops for the Jumbos.

Amherst returns to action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. when they welcome NESCAC foe Connecticut College to Orr Rink.