January 6, 2006
Contact: Daniel O'Reilly
Phone: (802) 654-2929

MALDEN, Mass. – The Saint Michael's College (4-5-2, 3-4-2 ECAC East) men's ice hockey team dropped a Friday evening contest to Tufts University (4-4-1, 2-5 NESCAC) by a final score of 8-3 at the Malden Valley Forum.
            For the Purple Knights, juniors Chris Thurston (Wallingford, Conn./Fairfield Prep), Spencer Williams (East Hampton, Conn./Northwood School), and Derek Girouard (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic) each scored goals, while classmate Jared Silver (Montreal, Quebec/Tabor Academy) added to his team lead in points by contributing three assists.
            For the Jumbos, sophomore Greg O'Connell (Cohasset, Mass./Belmont Hill) scored three goals and added an assist, and senior co-captain Ken Cleary (Cambridge, Mass./Junior Coyotes) notched a pair of goals, as well as two helpers.     
            Saint Michael's senior Alex Watts (Cheshire, Conn./Berkshire School), stuck on 99 career points, saw his chance to join the century club just 4:39 into the game. With a point-blank scoring opportunity, Watts took a slap shot that was glove saved by Jumbo sophomore goaltender James Kalec (East Amherst, N.Y./Fort Eirie Meteors). Tufts opened the scoring 6:15 into the opening period, when freshman Joe Milo (Woodbury, N.Y./New Hampshire Monarchs) scored a power play goal, with just six seconds remaining on Mike Ciardullo's (Walden, N.Y./Canterbury School) obstruction hooking penalty. Saint Michael's answered at the 7:59 mark when Thurston received feeds from senior Nick Dancey (Anaheim, Calif./American International) and Silver, to light the lamp for the fourth time this season. Exactly two minutes later, sophomore Matt Tosto (Medford, Mass./Belmont Hill) took a shot from between the face-off circles that hit the inside of Purple Knights goaltender Derek Jackson's (Clinton, N.Y./Gunnery School) right pad, and found the back of the net.
            Just under two minutes into the second, Spencer Williams scored right in front of the net after a pass from Silver, to put Saint Michael's up 2-1. Later in the period, Silver skated into a two-on-one situation, and after getting the defenseman to commit, sent a perfectly timed pass to Girouard who was shadowing him towards the center of the net. Still using his momentum, Girouard flipped the puck over Kalec's shoulder, putting the visitors up 3-1 with 14 minutes left in the frame. The Jumbos then went on to score six unanswered goals, culminating with O'Connell's hat-trick with 4:55 remaining in the game.
            Saint Michael's will look to get back in the win column when they travel to Connecticut College on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest. Tufts, meanwhile, will play host to Norwich University on Saturday at 4 p.m.

For a complete boxscore, click here.