The act of crashing the net symbolizes Paul Flanagan’s Syracuse ice hockey team. And the scene of the team’s leading scorer, Isabel Menard, doing just that is one of many. The success that has been generated in similar situations has created a new mindset for the players as well.

‘I think I should be doing that more,’ said Menard, a sophomore forward. ‘Anybody that takes a shot, I will just crash. I know last year I didn’t do that enough, but this year I’m trying to focus on that a little bit more.’

On that play, Menard skated from the right side of the ice into the attacking zone and sent a wrist shot toward the net. The puck was blocked, but with three Syracuse players surrounding the net, the puck crossed the goal line seconds later.

Just another rebound goal sent home by Megan Skelly. The red light turned on, and the offensive onslaught continued.

The Orange caught fire this weekend and kept Wayne State’s goalkeeper Delayne Brian busy in the process. SU (8-7-2) has a good chance to extend its two-game winning streak against Princeton (4-10-1) in a two-game series this weekend.

And the Orange will still be clawing for those rebound goals that have been there all season. This year, when Menard enters the offensive zone, she has one objective in mind.

‘Get the puck toward the net and generate a rebound,’ she said.

With a monthlong break on the horizon, Flanagan sees a successful weekend as added motivation for SU at the halfway mark of the season.

‘We have a real good opportunity to play a real good team down at Princeton and finish up the semester in a real good way,’ Flanagan said. ‘Hopefully all our energy is used to get ready for that game and final exams.’

The Tigers may provide the Orange an opportunity to end the first half of the season on the right foot. Syracuse’s offense has been able to create numerous scoring chances in its last five games, meaning the opportunities to come away victorious are there.

Now teams need to be weary of how the puck is coming off of any Syracuse player’s stick. Last weekend’s goals came following slap shots and wrist shots or simply anything fired on net. Anything that would create a rebound.

When the Orange generated enough shots on goal, it led to greater scoring opportunities. The Orange scored three of its five goals during Saturday’s contest with the Warriors off rebounds.

SU players are beginning to understand the rewards that can come from crashing the net.

For the Orange, this weekend’s series may be one of its best opportunities to get wins away from the Tennity Ice Pavilion this season.

With six of the team’s nine games on the road in the month of January, Flanagan hopes his team will make the most of this opportunity.

‘I think we feel that we need to win all of our points at home and steal some on the road if we want to position ourselves to be a high seed in the playoffs,’ Flanagan said. ‘One of our goals is to get back to that championship game.’

SU may be playing Princeton at just the right time. The Tigers have given up 14 goals in their last five games. The recent offensive success of the Orange could carry the team successfully into break.

Following Saturday’s victory against Wayne State, Skelly acknowledged that sweeps are important confidence builders for the rest of the season. Especially heading into the team’s heavily-concentrated conference schedule following break.

‘Our goal at the beginning of the year was to get to that CHA conference final,’ Skelly said. ‘This should instill some confidence in the team that we are a great team and we can win.’

The Princeton series presents a big chance for the Orange — as long as it continues to play its crashing style of hockey.

‘It would be really nice to finish up with a sweep,’ Flanagan said. ‘And come back here in January, re-energized with a good record to start off the new semester.’

adtredin@syr.edu

 

Published on December 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm