Hamilton College's men's hockey team's school-record 13-game unbeaten streak ended Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to visiting Tufts University in a NESCAC game at Russell Sage Rink. The Continentals, ranked fifth by D3hockey.com and sixth by USCHO.com, were the last NCAA hockey team at any level to lose a game.

The game was a showdown between the top two teams in the NESCAC standings; Hamilton (11-1-2 overall) remains in first place with a 6-1-2 conference mark while the second-place Jumbos (7-4-3 overall) are now 5-2-1 in the conference.

The teams traded goals late in the opening period, before Tufts scored the game-winner midway through the second and sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 40 seconds to go.

After trailing 2-1 for nearly 31 minutes, the Continentals had their best chance to tie the score in the waning minutes. A Tufts penalty at the 18:32 mark left the visitors short-handed and allowed Hamilton to pull goaltender Evan Buitenhuis '18 for an extra skater, but the Jumbos capitalized on the empty net by scoring their second short-handed goal of the game. Sean Kavanagh sent a long shot into the Hamilton zone that went just wide of the left post before bouncing off the boards back in front of the net, where Tyler Scroggins outskated a Continental to poke the puck in.

Conor Lamberti '17 notched Hamilton's only goal, putting the hosts ahead on the power play with 3:23 left in the first. Neil Conway '18 and Bennett Morrison '20 assisted on Lamberti's goal (his second of the winter).

Tufts was whistled for a penalty 39 seconds later but the Jumbos' Clay Berger scored the first of his two goals midway through Hamilton's power play. Scroggins and Trevor Davis assisted on the goal.

Berger collected his third goal of the season 7:06 into the second to give Tufts the lead for good.

Mason Pulde earned the win for Tufts, making 17 of his 39 saves in the third period. Buitenhuis stopped 20 shots.

The Continentals begin the second half of their NESCAC schedule Friday, playing a 7 p.m. game at Amherst (who's ranked 15th by D3hockey.com).