With five minutes left in the third period, Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” played for 30 seconds during a TV timeout at the OnCenter Complex.

The two-goal lead that Syracuse ran out to had vanished and now a two-goal deficit was surrounded by a slew of penalties that stifled Syracuse’s chances of upending Cornell.

On Tuesday night, Syracuse (7-7-2, 2-2-2 College Hockey America) fell 5-2 to No. 3 Cornell (10-1-2, 6-0-2 Eastern College Athletic) in front of 279 fans. Despite leading early in the game, SU’s lack of discipline from its veteran skaters proved costly in the end.

The lack of discipline from the Orange started from its most reliable leader: senior goalie Kallie Billadeau. Two minutes into the second period, Billadeau was called for a hooking penalty that let Cornell gain momentum.

“We went out and got out of the flow,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “We were running three lines, spotting the fourth line.

“I think a lot of that (taking the penalties) was clear speed and our kids were trying to catch up. But that’s where you have to be better and not let any kids slip by you.”

Cassandra Poudrier capitalized on Cornell’s power-play opportunity with an aggressive push past one defender and tied the game at 2-2. This was the last time the Orange held on to any form of a lead on Tuesday night.

Nearly eight minutes later, another veteran added to the lack of discipline that the Orange faced in the period. Senior center Margot Scharfe was the perpetrator of a hooking penalty herself, leaving the Orange one woman down.

Twelve minutes in, the lack of composure by the Orange was palpable. Freshman Larissa Martyniuk inflicted the third hooking penalty of the period and put the team in another difficult position.

Fortunately for the Orange, the penalty kill provided quality defense on the back end. Despite seven power-play opportunities, the defense allowed only two goals as a result.

“I thought we didn’t have bad penalty kills,” left wing Sadie St. German said. “We tried hard on all penalty kills. I guess that’s all you can do.”

But St. Germain did acknowledge the difficulty of keeping up with the high amount of penalty kills that her squad faced against a premier team.

“It kind of kills momentum that you can have,” she said. “I think it’s also hard when you’re winning 2-0 and then give them a goal and let them have the momentum back.”

The downfall of the Orange loomed large after the failed power-play opportunity late in the period. With a rare five-on-three opportunity, the Orange positioned itself to add a third goal and tie the game with less than two minutes left.

Instead, the fourth penalty of the period effectively put any sort of a comeback out of reach. Defenseman Nicole Renault committed a holding penalty with two minutes remaining in the period.

The Renault hold ended the two-woman advantage that temporarily allowed the Orange to reclaim momentum. And to make matters worse, an unlucky bounce put Syracuse in a much deeper hole.

After Renault entered the penalty box, Poudrier was released from the penalty box after serving time for boarding. As she exited the box, a free puck bounced directly in front of Poudrier.

She then charged toward Billadeau, skating past a defender and launching the one-on-one scoring chance that propelled Cornell’s lead to 4-2.

The Orange watched an opportunity to beat an in-state rival vanish in front of its eyes. There proved to be plenty of physicality among both teams as bodies were flying and scuffles emerged on the middle of the ice.

But Renault was not ready to make any excuses for the lack of discipline against a quality opponent.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “They’re just a good team so we knew that any mistake they could capitalize on.”

Published on December 4, 2013 at 3:36 am