The Syracuse ice hockey team will play a home game this Friday, even if it will have to hop on a bus to get there.

‘We’re taking the show on the road,’ Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan said, ‘albeit five minutes away.’

That’s what Syracuse will be doing this Friday at 7 p.m., when it leaves the comforts of its on-campus home, Tennity Ice Pavilion, to host conference foe Mercyhurst (4-4), downtown at the Onondaga County War Memorial. The Orange will also host the Lakers at Tennity Saturday at 2 p.m.

Jamie Mullin, Syracuse’s associate director of athletics, said, this weekend will be the first time Syracuse and the War Memorial have joined together for an event; something Flanagan feels is truly significant.

‘I think it can be very beneficial for both parties,’ Flanagan said. ‘I know that Syracuse University is trying to do things with the Connective Corridor, and maybe this is one of the same things along those lines. If anything, it is so close to campus that maybe we will get some people that are familiar with the War Memorial and campus to jointly support us.’

The five-minute trek downtown for the Orange will be the result of over a year’s worth of planning by multiple parties within the athletic department. Mullin, Flanagan, Director of Athletics Darryl Gross and Senior Associate Director of Athletics Henry Wildhack were behind this weekend’s festivities.

Formal discussions with the OnCenter began at least a year ago and continued for several months. The parties involved then discussed playing at the War Memorial with newly appointed head coach Paul Flanagan this past April, and shortly thereafter agreed in principle to compete at the War Memorial.

Initially, the OnCenter was very receptive to the idea of having the team play at the Onondaga County War Memorial, going as far as asking the Orange to play the entirety of its inaugural season downtown. But the University desired an on-campus home.

‘Henry Wildhack and I went to some meetings, and it was intriguing to look at it and discuss it, but then we compromised,’ Flanagan said. ‘You have to try things first to see how they turn out.’

Heading into this weekend, the University needed to make some short-term preparations and adjustments as well.

‘The War Memorial staff has hosted hockey events before, so the majority of preparation will be on our end,’ Mullin said. ‘Our primary preparation is transporting our student athletes and their equipment downtown, and then subsequently setting up shop in our locker room.

‘From a game management perspective, while it is not our facility we are still responsible for hiring a public address announcer, scoreboard operator and a few other positions.’

For the members of the team, the aspect of the change of scenery that most likely affects them the greatest pertains to the arena’s size. The War Memorial seats approximately 7,000 people, compared to Tennity, which seats about 400. Flanagan said the War Memorial is a ‘big, cavernous and warm building compared to Tennity.’

‘It remains to be seen until game-time whether or not there will be that much of a difference,’ Flanagan said. ‘We are coming off two big wins here where the crowd was great, but the potential is there for us to lose some momentum.’

SU junior goalie Allison Lee, a former member of Syracuse’s club team who has attended several games at the War Memorial (the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League plays its home games downtown), feels the transition between the two rinks will go over easily.

‘We will still definitely have momentum,’ Lee said. ‘I don’t think it matters where we play, because the War Memorial is a different rink, yet still in Syracuse.’

Syracuse junior forward and team captain Julie Rising agrees.

‘I think it will actually help our motivation to almost claim it as a second-home ice that we can maybe host tournaments at,’ Rising said. ‘The ice will be bigger and softer, it should be fun.’

Looking past this weekend, there are plans in-place to have the Orange play downtown. Later this year the squad will wrap up its home schedule on February 21 against St. Anselm at the arena.

However the weekend turns out, Flanagan does feel that there is a practical purpose of the jointly hosted weekend.

‘We are really happy at Tennity, but we will get a chance to compare and contrast because we will play the same team in both venues,’ Flanagan said. ‘It’s a win-win situation.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on November 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm