Though the Syracuse ice hockey team is in only its second year, it has already managed to foster several heated rivalries.

Head coach Paul Flanagan has acknowledged bad blood between the Orange and some of its opponents. SU players have expressed their hatred toward No. 1 Mercyhurst and other College Hockey America conference foes on numerous occasions.

And they appear to love every bit of it.

‘It’s kind of interesting,’ senior goaltender Lucy Schoedel said. ‘It seems like we’re kind of developing rivalries with almost every team we’re playing these days. It’s a lot of fun. It keeps games interesting.’

Entering this weekend, Syracuse (17-16-1, 8-8-0 CHA) will start the CHA tournament as the third seed, behind Niagara (12-13-5, 7-6-3) and Mercyhurst (27-2-3, 14-1-1). With the NCAA tournament all but out of the realm of possibility (the CHA does not have an automatic qualifier for winning the conference tournament), the Orange’s season will likely come to a close at tournament’s end.

SU will play the second-seeded Purple Eagles Friday at 7 p.m. in Detroit and would likely get one more shot at the Lakers, the nation’s No. 1 team, should it beat Niagara.

And sophomore forward Lisa Mullan made it clear that Syracuse isn’t very friendly with either of those teams.

‘Niagara, I don’t see that we’re on good terms with them,’ she said. ‘We don’t like that team. We’re not looking past Niagara, but we definitely want another shot at Mercyhurst. They’re definitely the least favorite team of the whole league, for me anyways.’

The Orange has outscored the Purple Eagles 16-14 through nine games in two years with its in-state rival. But the resentment extends beyond just how close the games are. Before the conference tournament last year, the Orange had gone 2-0-2 against Niagara. That play-in game for the conference tournament, though, has haunted Syracuse’s memories for the past year.

With the score deadlocked at 2-2 with less than four minutes to play, then-freshman forward Megan Skelly ripped a slap shot in transition. The puck then slid into the goal after a collision in front, seemingly giving the Orange a late lead.

But the referees ruled that the net had been knocked off its pegs before the puck crossed the goal line and disallowed the score. One minute later, Niagara knocked in a rebound for the game-winner, ending Syracuse’s inaugural season in heartbreaking fashion.

‘(That rivalry) is huge,’ senior defenseman Gabby Beaudry said. ‘Even when we were at Mercyhurst last weekend, we were like, ‘Ugh, remember the last time we were here when we lost to Niagara (in the conference tournament).’ So we’re always thinking about that. We want a chance to end their season this year since they ended ours last year.’

But in the players’ minds, the rivalry with the Purple Eagles doesn’t compare to its series with Mercyhurst.

If the feeling is bitterness toward Niagara, then it is hatred toward the Lakers.

The Orange has never beaten Mercyhurst, but it has come close this season. On Jan. 23, SU almost rallied back from a three-goal deficit but couldn’t finish off the comeback, ultimately falling 4-3. Last Saturday, SU carried a 1-1 tie past the halfway point of the third period. But a Mercyhurst goal with just under nine minutes left handed Syracuse its eighth loss in eight tries.

The close results have given the Orange confidence that it can pull off the monumental upset. But it’s the embarrassing losses that provide the spark for Syracuse’s resentment.

In SU’s 8-1 home loss on Jan. 22, Mercyhurst’s final goal came on a power play with under a minute left. And the Lakers’ Jesse Scanzano, who is second in the country in points, tallied the score.

The Lakers did the same thing to the Orange last year, putting their top players in on a late power play with a 7-1 victory already intact.

As a result, the SU players and coaches have described Mercyhurst as a ‘classless’ and ‘disrespectful’ team that ‘kicks you while you’re down.’

If Syracuse does make it past Niagara in the tournament semifinals, it wants to see the nation’s No. 1 team in the finals.

‘We’re definitely looking forward to (playing Mercyhurst again),’ Mullan said. ‘We know that we can beat them. We know that they’re going to be really cocky coming into it because they beat us four times this year. They think they’re the show. We definitely can sneak up on them.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm