In each of the past three years, Syracuse made it to the College Hockey America championship game, only to lose.

This season, it didn’t even make it there.

The Orange (13-21-2, 11-8-1 CHA) lost to Mercyhurst (17-14-4, 13-4-3), 3-2, in overtime on Friday in the semifinals of the CHA tournament. SU scored eight minutes into the game, but a minute later its lead was gone for good. Freshman Edith D’Astous-Moreau started in goal in place of usual-starter and senior Abbey Miller, who was in goal for the Orange’s loss in the final last year. She responded to the starting opportunity by saving a career-high and SU season-high 40 shots in 76 minutes, but it wasn’t enough to push her team on top.

Stephanie Grossi, Syracuse’s all-time leading point scorer, was part of both Orange goals, setting up the first with an assist and scoring the second herself. Last month, she explained how much a championship would mean to the team.

“All those girls that were on our teams in previous years, we just couldn’t get it done for them,” Grossi said on Feb. 13. “So, it’s not just getting it done for ourselves this year, it’s getting it done for every single Syracuse player who has ever worn the jersey.”  

Fellow seniors Megan Quinn and Alysha Burriss combined for an assist and four shot attempts in their final games.

After four scoreless minutes to open the contest, a Kelli Rowswell penalty gave Mercyhurst the game’s first power-play opportunity. The Lakers were aggressive during their two-minute advantage, attempting four shots, three on goal. But D’Astous-Moreau was stout in net, keeping Mercyhurst off the board. The stop seemingly energized the Orange, which turned defense into offense and scored fewer than two minutes later to take an early lead.

Emma Polaski’s 2-on-1 breakaway score gave her her sixth goal of the season and gave SU a 1-0 lead with 11:51 remaining. Grossi found the freshman on Lakers’ goalie Kennedy Blair’s stick-side, and Polaski’s deflection was too fast for Blair to react. Unfortunately for the Orange, its lead didn’t last long. With 10:43 left in the period freshman Summer-Rae Dobson tied it up for the Lakers, and the teams were tied again. Despite being outshot the rest of the period 12-4, the Orange played Mercyhurst to a stalemate, and the score stayed knotted at one entering the first intermission.

The second period began the opposite way the first ended, as Syracuse controlled puck possession and control. The Orange began the period with six shots to the Lakers’ one, but each of them were stopped, and an SU penalty put a halt to its attack. A holding the stick penalty was called on Jessica DiGirolamo with 15:48 on the clock, and Mercyhurst wasted no time in going on the offensive. The Lakers managed seven shots during the power play, but all were thwarted, including three by D’Astous-Moreau. Just over a minute later it was Syracuse’s turn for a 5-on-4 advantage, but the Orange failed to score on its power play as well.

Neither teams managed anything offensively before SU ran into more penalty trouble, giving Mercyhurst numerous power-play opportunities late in the period. Finally, with 5:11 left in the second frame, the Lakers broke the tie with a Jennifer MacAskill goal. Other than a Lakers penalty with 17 seconds left, the period ended quietly, and Mercyhurst entered the final 20 minutes with a 2-1 lead.

The penalty turned out to be a big one, as 33 seconds into the third period Grossi tied the game with a finish off a Lindsay Eastwood pass. The Orange garnered another power play at the midway point of the third but failed to score, beginning a stretch of missed opportunities for both teams. Late in the period the Lakers had five shots in a row saved or blocked, immediately followed by four failed shots by Syracuse to end the third. With the score 2-2 and 60 minutes gone by, the teams entered overtime.

Mercyhurst dominated the extra period, attempting 19 shots in the first 10 minutes to SU’s eight. The Orange killed two power plays, however, the first one coming almost five minutes into overtime and the second beginning midway through the period. But the two failed opportunities didn’t stop the Lakers from chipping away at the Syracuse defense, taking nine shots to the Orange’s one in the next five minutes.

The first eight were stopped. The ninth, however, found its target. After the puck was deflected behind the goal and brought to the right side of the net, it was shuffled to Vilma Tanskanen, who had stationed herself in front of the net. Tanskanen’s shot was stopped by D’Astous-Moreau, but Emma Nuutinen was there to follow it with the game-winning goal.

It ended the game, and Syracuse’s season.

Published on March 2, 2018 at 7:33 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34