Last year, the Syracuse ice hockey team’s inaugural season ended in defeat. In the program’s first ever playoff game, the Orange suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Niagara.

Players said disappointment and frustration filled the locker room afterward. Syracuse had compiled a 2-0-2 record against the Purple Eagles during the regular season. But when the game really counted, the Orange could not pull out the victory.

This weekend, Syracuse (3-4-1) will get its first two chances to avenge that loss. The Orange will take on Niagara (3-3-2) at Tennity Ice Pavilion tonight at 7 p.m. in SU’s home opener, before the two team’s square off again on Saturday at 2 p.m. The team believes that the revenge factor and the competitiveness of last year’s games have turned the matchup into a budding rivalry.

Senior goaltender Lucy Schoedel said the Orange’s returning players have been thinking about this game since they got off the bus after last season’s loss.

‘We were obviously thinking about it for the upcoming season since the moment we got back from that game,’ she said. ‘It was a disappointing loss, and I think those of us who were here last year are really eager to play them again, so we’re looking forward to that.’

Games like the one last year are not easily forgotten. Syracuse, the No. 4 seed in the College Hockey America tournament last year, and fifth-seeded Niagara, battled to a 2-2 tie late in the game. With 3:50 remaining in the third period, the Orange appeared to take the lead on a goal by forward Megan Skelly. But the referees ruled that the net had been dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line, erasing the go-ahead score.

One minute later, the Purple Eagles put away a rebound shot to take a 3-2 lead. SU could not overcome the late deficit, and its season came to an end.

But that was not the only close encounter the Orange had with Niagara last year. The teams fought to 1-1 ties in the two games at Niagara. When they played at Syracuse, the Orange pulled out a 2-1 victory in the first game and scored an empty-net goal late in the second game to earn a 3-1 win.

Head coach Paul Flanagan believes the competitiveness is turning the matchup into an up-and-coming rivalry, even though the teams have only played each other for one season.

‘I think it’s a good healthy rivalry,’ he said. ‘There was one game down there last year that was crazy, just a ton of penalties. … Other than that, I though the four games were just good games and hard-played. You can have bitter rivalries where you just go at them tooth and nail, or you can have a good, healthy rivalry, and I think that’s what this is developing into.’

The Orange has not played since a 4-3 win over RPI on Oct. 24. The extra week off has given players time to rest and recover from minor ailments and illnesses. The team has not changed anything in terms of preparation for the Purple Eagles, and Flanagan said he has not tried to use last year’s loss as motivation. He would rather see the players focus on their own game.

Still, junior forward Julie Rising hopes the younger players get a feel for what this game means for Syracuse.

‘(The loss) was definitely devastating,’ she said. ‘It was our last game of the season, so we don’t want to have that feeling again. Hopefully, a lot of the veterans will show the freshmen that this is not a team that we want to lose to.’

Flanagan may want the team to just go out and play its game, but the players want more than that. They do not want to lose to their intrastate and conference rival. They want to avenge the program’s first ever playoff loss.

‘I think we can build off the momentum of losing and having a goal called off,’ Rising said. ‘We want to beat them. We want to show them that was a fluke that they won last year.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on November 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm