On a two-on-one late in the third period, Mercyhurst forward Abigail Schauer scored the type of goal that has hurt the Orange all season. 

But not tonight. Not when eight Orange goals preceded it. 

On Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion, Syracuse (6-13-1, 5-1-1 College Hockey America) dominated Mercyhurst (11-8-2, 5-2-0) from the opening puck drop to the final buzzer. The Orange chased two Mercyhurst goaltenders on their way to the first home win of the season, an 8-3 win that launched them to the top of the College Hockey America conference.

“Everything’s starting to come together,” Kristen Siermachesky said. “I think it’s just a lot of hard work that’s finally paying off.”

Almost seven minutes into the first period, defender Lindsay Eastwood sent a saucer pass across the neutral zone to Brynn Koocher and headed off for a change. Koocher was all by herself heading down the right wing with two Lakers to beat. The freshman forward fainted to the right, and when a Laker defender pinched on her, Koocher cut inside past her. Koocher pulled the puck on to her backhand away from the outstretched stick of the final Mercyhurst defender and tossed a backhander towards the far side of the net to open the scoring.

“They’re doing what they always do,” a Mercyhurst fan said. “They start off slow.”

The slow Laker start continued for nearly the rest of the first period, where a perfectly placed wrist shot and slapshot from the point by Savannah Rennie and Eastwood respectively put the Orange up 3-0.

Bounces that may have failed to go Syracuse’s way earlier this season found open sticks and, often soon after, the back of the Laker net.

Halfway through the second period, the Orange set up in their umbrella formation, looking to add to their 4-1 lead on the power play. As the Orange moved the puck across the blue line, forward Lauren Bellefontaine drifted off the half-wall and lifted her stick in the air, waiting for a one-time pass. Mae Batherson obliged, sending Bellefontaine a pass which she clapped towards the Laker net. The puck, however, was drifting wide before a cutting Emma Polaski’s outstretched stick knocked the puck out of the air and into the twine.

“We made our own breaks tonight,” Paul Flanagan said.

While SU’s offensive explosion kept the puck in the Mercyhurst end for much of the game, Ady Cohen was backing it up at the other end of the ice. With 4:59 remaining in the second and bodies littered in front of Cohen’s crease, the senior goaltender located an initial Laker shot and made another sprawling glove save to end the threat.

Halfway through the third and once again on the powerplay, lifted her stick, teeing up what would have been her second slapshot goal of the game, from the exact same spot. This time, however, Eastwood slapped a pass to the slot where Polaski had positioned herself. The pass deflected off Polaski’s stick but found Bellefontaine a few feet behind her who rifled home the 7-2 goal.

“I noticed that they’re coming out on me hard,” Eastwood said. “They were taking away the shot for me so I had to find something new to do.”

Bellefontaine’s goal knocked Laker goaltender Jenna Silvonen out of the contest, who had earlier replaced starter Kennedy Blair in net. For the second game in a row, the Orange faced three opposition goalies. Unlike last game, however, Mercyhurst’s carousel was not planned. 

A month ago, Syracuse spent a weekend in Saint Charles, Missouri filling their opposition’s net. The Orange scored 20 goals during a two-game sweep of a Lindenwood team that was forced to play position players in net because of a series of injuries.

Friday night’s shellacking may prove Syracuse’s routs at Lindenwood weren’t flukes. In handling the previous top seed in the CHA, SU heads into the rest of the double-header as the conference’s team to beat. 

“[First in the CHA] is a huge position for us,” Siermachesky said. “That means a bye in the first game [of the playoffs], which would be awesome. I think for right now we just have all eyes on our next game and try to maintain that position.”

Published on January 10, 2020 at 11:57 pm

Contact Mitchell: mbannon@syr.edu