Earlier this season, the Syracuse ice hockey team beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 4-3, on the Engineers’ home ice, despite being outplayed. RPI outshot the Orange. SU took 10 penalties in the game. The Orange trailed by a goal heading into the third period.

But in the final period, Syracuse flexed its power play muscle, capitalizing on three of its four opportunities.

Isabel Menard, Kelsey Welch and Jessica Sorensen tallied the goals, adding to Julie Rising’s power play goal in the second. The four power play goals were just enough for the Orange to sneak past RPI.

Syracuse (8-6-1, 3-1 College Hockey America) has continued its strong play with the man advantage throughout the season. It currently ranks first in the CHA with a .250 power play percentage. Seventeen of the Orange’s 43 goals this year have come on the power play.

Syracuse will look to continue scoring with the extra man in two games against Wayne State this weekend at Tennity Ice Pavilion. SU will play the Warriors Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.

Sophomore forward Megan Skelly has scored two power play goals this year. She believes teamwork is the key to the Orange’s success with the man advantage.

‘I think it’s just a great combination of different players working together,’ Skelly said. ‘I think it has a lot to do with how much we work on our power play and working together as a team.’

Skelly said when the Orange watches film, it carefully studies how other teams play on the penalty kill. The team also spends chunks of time in practices doing full-ice drills, working its power play unit against its penalty kill unit.

That repetition in practice appears to be paying off. The first place power play percentage in the CHA places Syracuse ahead of conference foe Mercyhurst, the nation’s No. 1 team.

The Lakers lead the conference in nearly every offensive category. But its power play percentage is .202. They score about one out of every five opportunities with the man-advantage. The Orange scores about one out of every four.

Some of the Syracuse players believe that a successful power play may even help out in 5-on-5 hockey. Opponents may be hesitant to play physically, knowing that SU is one of the best teams in the country with extra skaters.

‘If we have a good power play percentage,’ sophomore Janelle Malcolm said, ‘the other team doesn’t want to take stupid penalties and have us out there on power plays, so they might not be as rough on the boards.’

Special teams play also tends to change the momentum of a game. Rising, who is tied for the team lead with three power play goals, said the team should expect to score when its opponents are in the penalty box. Not taking advantage of a 5-on-4 could give the other team a confidence boost, while scoring could swing momentum the other way.

‘It’s great. Any time we can get a power play adds momentum,’ Malcolm said. ‘And then to get a goal is always great. It gets the bench going.’

Last weekend, Syracuse appeared ready to take a 2-2 tie into the third period after struggling with a Union team that had won only two games this year. But a slashing penalty on the Dutchwomen with just 15 seconds left in the second provided the opportunity the Orange needed.

As the clock wound down, the two teams battled for the puck against the boards in the Union zone. It finally popped free and drifted to unmarked freshman defender Erin Burns just inside the faceoff circle. She wound up and ripped a one-time shot past the Union goaltender as the buzzer sounded.

The goal became the spark the Orange needed to hold off the Dutchwomen in the third and preserve the 3-2 victory.

Skelly believes that Syracuse’s ability to score with the man advantage proves that opponents cannot overlook the Orange, despite being such a young program.

‘Scoring on a power play is great because whether they took a dumb penalty or it wasn’t really a penalty, it’s great to capitalize off their mistakes,’ she said. ‘It definitely shows that we’re here to play and that we’re a good team.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on December 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm