Open ice was the only thing between Logan Hicks and Robert Morris goalie Elijah Milne-Price.

Hicks corralled the puck with her stick, dragging it to Milne-Price’s glove side before attempting a backhanded wrist shot. The goalie had no trouble stopping Hicks’ shot, securing the puck between her glove and two pads.

There were still 18 minutes left in the second period, but Syracuse wouldn’t earn a clean look on goal the rest of the game.

Missed opportunities like Hicks’ breakaway and poor offensive execution did in Syracuse (12-20-2, 11-8-1 College Hockey America) in its 4-0 loss to No. 9 Robert Morris (20-7-4, 14-3-3) on Saturday. The result was the Orange’s second shutout loss in as many days, the first time SU has been held scoreless on a weekend since late September, during its season-opening series against Bemidji State. It’s a concerning sign for a Syracuse team that begins CHA playoffs on Thursday.

“They’re a good team, but we made them look really good,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “That’s 10 times we’ve been shut out … it’s been three of the past four games. That’s pretty frustrating.”

The Orange fought from behind for most of the game thanks to an RMU goal just more than two minutes into the contest. But just like in Friday’s game, Syracuse was the more aggressive team in the first period, outshooting the Colonials, 12-7.

In a seven-minute stretch in the first period, SU attempted 10 shots to RMU’s two. It began with an Alysha Burriss backhander shot into Milne-Price’s chest protector off a 1-on-1 opportunity. Later, Lindsay Eastwood followed her shot attempt from the blue line with a feed to Stephanie Grossi by the crease, but Grossi’s shot was blocked. That was followed by a nice move by Kelli Rowswell, which got her by a Colonials defender creating a good look, only for her shot to be stopped. The rebound deflected to Hicks, who had a seemingly wide-open scoring chance on the right side of the goal, but the attempt was deflected away by a Robert Morris defender.

It was the most dominant stretch of the game for the Orange, but it came away empty-handed.

“We just couldn’t put the puck in the net yesterday or today,” Eastwood said. “And obviously to win a game you have to score, so that hurt us.”

While SU’s early season struggles against Bemidji State were attributed to lack of experience and practice time, this weekend’s ineptitude was unexplainable. Contrary to its play against Rochester Institute of Technology earlier in the month, Syracuse failed to produce any high-quality looks on Milne-Price. Its offensive possessions were also often limited to one shot, as the Colonials usually cleared rebounds.

The majority of the Orange’s shots went straight into Milne-Price’s “breadbasket,” Flanagan said, and Syracuse didn’t spend enough time in its offensive zone. It was partially a result of SU’s poor forechecking, which led to long RMU possessions that ended with good looks at the net.

“Same problems as yesterday, all originating from the defensive zone,” freshman defender Kristen Siermachesky said. “It’s been stuff we’ve been working on a lot. We’re getting there.”

Syracuse needed to win both games this weekend in order to secure a first-round bye in the CHA playoffs. Instead, it didn’t even score a goal. With the memories of its six-straight CHA final losses, the Orange knows its offensive struggles need to be remedied, and soon.

The first chance for Syracuse to prove whether its offense will regain its mid-season form will be on Thursday in the first round of the CHA tournament, against No. 6 seed RIT. Playing the team that it outscored 22-3 in four games this season will be a good opportunity for the Orange to break out, but it knows that in order for that to happen, this weekend has to be forgotten.

“We can’t dwell on it. If we dwell on it we’ll be done on Thursday,” Flanagan said. “We still have a chance, we have to do it the hard way, win three games in three nights, I’ve seen teams do it, and it can be pretty neat.

“So, let’s just do it the hard way.”

Published on February 24, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34