The Hamilton College men's hockey team fell 5-3 to Tufts University at the Valley Forum in NESCAC action on Sunday evening.

The Continentals (9-4-1, 4-4-1 NESCAC) -- ranked sixth by D3hockey.com and ninth by USCHO.com -- scored one goal in each period, had a 35-28 shot advantage, and won 44 of the 75 faceoffs.

Tufts (3-9-2, 2-5-1) won its second game in a row since tying nationally ranked No. 2/2 Endicott College 2-2 on Jan. 9. The Jumbos scored twice in the first, once in the second, and added two more goals in the third period.

Tufts scored just 46 seconds into the first period when Michael Gordon found Brendan Ryan alone at the Hamilton blue line and Ryan skated in and slipped a shot under the pads of Anthony Tirabassi '20 (23 saves). Hamilton evened the score six minutes later as Brandon Willett '18 took a pass from behind the goal line from Nick Ursitti '20 and lifted the puck past Nik Nugnes (32 saves) at 6:49. The period finished with the Jumbos up 2-1 after Hayden Smith dropped a pass back to Charley Borek who fired a shot past Tirabassi with 1:55 left. 

The second period started with another quick goal -- this time by the Continentals. Nugnes stopped an initial shot by Jason Brochu '19, but the rebound deflected into the goal to tie the score at 2-2 just 11 seconds into the period. Mason Babbidge responded quickly for the Jumbos as he put away a rebound off a shot by Cory Gottfried at 3:48 to give Tufts the 3-2 lead.

Tufts added two insurance goals in the third period. Ross Delabruere scored his first goal of the season at 7:05 for a 4-2 Jumbo lead, and Brian Brown took a shot from the left faceoff circle for his seventh goal of the season and a 5-2 Jumbos edge at 15:37. With just 1:22 remaining in the third, the Jumbos were whistled for a pair of minor penalties. Hamilton pulled Tirabassi to gain a six-on-three advantage and the Continentals capitalized with 57 seconds to go when Brochu scored his second of the game and seventh of the year.

The Continentals return to Russell Sage Rink for two games next weekend. Amherst College arrives on Saturday for a NESCAC game, and SUNY Canton comes to town on Sunday for a non-conference game. The puck drops at 7 p.m. for both contests.