Watching his players skate up and down the ice during the third period and overtime, Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan could tell they were tired.

A team that had put 30 shots on net through the first two periods failed to get to pucks and spent most of its time during the final two frames in the defensive zone.

“It’s a wake-up call for some of them that really struggled to perform later in the game today,” Flanagan said. “They were out of energy, so that’s something we’ll have to take care of.”

Almost halfway through the third period, New Hampshire (1-3-1) tied Saturday’s game at the Tennity Ice Pavillion, 2-2. That score would hold until the end and for the second night in a row, Syracuse (1-1-2) finished with a tie.

Again, the Orange failed to ever take more than a one-goal lead, despite having the chances. Much like Friday’s game against Northeastern, SU couldn’t close it out and let its opponent tie the game.

“I was really disappointed with our squad,” Flanagan said after Saturday’s draw. “You got to learn how to put a team away … I think we were lucky to get out of there with a tie.”

Just a minute and a half in, freshman Stephanie Grossi played a puck near the corner with two defenders on her and passed it to junior Nicole Renault, who was crashing the net. The pass hit Renault on the tape of her stick and she sent the first shot of the game into the back of the net.

But at the halfway point of the first, New Hampshire scored on a scrum in front of the net. SU goalie Jenn Gilligan couldn’t see the puck because of the players in front of her, but heard the shot as it was taken. She thought it went by her and as she got up, the puck slid in.

Off the opening faceoff of the second period, junior Melissa Piacentini muscled past two defenders and made a move on UNH goalie Vilma Vaattovaara. But the forward couldn’t lift the puck over the goalie’s leg.

“A few times I shot right in the goalie’s pads and it could’ve been a game-winner,” Piacentini said. “It could’ve been another goal.”

After many chances, Grossi finally put Syracuse on the board again in the second, this time with a goal. She stepped off the bench, picked up a lose puck and quickly fired a wrist shot for the score.

But despite doubling New Hampshire’s shots through the first two periods and maintaining possession in the offensive zone, Syracuse only had a one-goal lead to show for it.

“It was just frustrating that we didn’t put the puck in in the second and first periods when we were dominating,” Renault said. “Those are the chances and the times we really just got to bear down and put the puck in the net.”

New Hampshire took over in the third. It created more rushes and got shots off from the point.

After a Syracuse turnover in the offensive zone, UNH forward Jonna Curtis took a shot from beyond the left circle. The puck hit off Gilligan’s glove and went into the net.

As some of her former teammates celebrated, Gilligan — a junior who played two years at UNH — skated out of the crease, shaking her head.

“Got to love those ones,” Gilligan said sarcastically. “You think you have it and it’s just by you and in the net.”

The team stayed out on shifts too long in the second period, Flanagan said, and that’s why they let up at the end of the game. He said the players were selfish and need to be smarter about coming off the ice.

Said Grossi: “We just got to play a full 60-minute game.”

Published on October 11, 2014 at 9:01 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus