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Gabbie Rud gained possession of the puck near the middle of the ice three minutes into the second period. As Rud approached Syracuse’s blue line, Avi Adam veered all the way off to the right. Kambel Beacom stayed in front of Rud and Maya D’Arcy dropped down near Syracuse’s crease, leaving Adam wide open across the ice.

Rud fired the puck to a cutting Adam, who retrieved the pass in the middle. D’Arcy and Rayla Clemons immediately swarmed her, but Adam faked both of them out by pretending she was going to dump the puck off to Alexa Davis skating down the right side of the boards but instead made a move continuing towards the middle of the ice.

After freeing herself from D’Arcy and Clemons, Adam was unmarked. With Beacom moving out of position to the middle, Adam gave the puck up to Alyssa Regalado, who had taken Beacom’s spot down low. Regalado shot right at Arielle DeSmet, but the puck bounced off of her and into the back of the net making it 3-0 just 3:04 into the second period.

“I felt like pucks weren’t bouncing our way, it’s hard when it happens,” Hannah Johnson said. “We (have) to fight our way through those unlucky bounces we get here and there.”

Starting periods slow hurt Syracuse (7-15-1, 4-2 College Hockey America) tonight in its 4-1 loss to No. 10 Cornell (11-6-2, 8-3-1 ECAC). SU’s inability to start strong was consistent, as three of the four goals it surrendered came within the first 3:04 of the first and second periods.

After Cornell staved off Syracuse’s early attacks, Alexa Davis controlled the puck in front of the goal, looking to get the Big Red going. As Davis scanned the ice, she spotted a wide-open Kaitlin Jockims leaking out towards Syracuse’s blue line with no defenders in front of her. Just 2:40 into the game, Jockims gave the Big Red a quick lead.

Although Cornell took an early lead, Syracuse played well for the remainder of the first period. Despite penalties from Lauren Bellefontaine and Mik Todd near the end, SU stifled both of the Big Red’s first-period power plays and DeSmet notched 13 saves in the game’s first 20 minutes.

Despite closing the first period strong, the Orange struggled once again at the beginning of the second. 15 seconds in, Tatum White controlled the puck and tried pushing it into Cornell’s defensive zone. However, White was immediately double-teamed and had no help around her, so Cornell took possession with ease.

As the puck skidded behind Cornell’s net, Davis retrieved it. To Davis’ right, McKenna Van Gelder was skating up the ice and Davis dished the puck to her as she approached Cornell’s blue line. Directly upon receiving the puck, Van Gelder pushed the puck up the ice in the vicinity of Izzy Daniel.

Despite being behind the puck initially, Daniel skated around Bellefontaine to retrieve it in stride. As Daniel skated down the right side of the rink, Van Gelder followed her parallel on the left. In a 2 vs 1 situation, Mae Batherson committed to Van Gelder, but Daniel took it herself and beat DeSmet for the score.

Within 33 seconds of the period starting, Syracuse’s deficit grew to two and two-and-a-half minutes later it became three. Like it did in the first period, Syracuse hung with Cornell throughout most of the second period, but giving up two early goals in the period proved to be a difference maker.

After starting slow in both of the first two periods, SU looked to score to start the third, and it was given a gift. 11 seconds into the period, Daniel was called for cross-checking to give the Orange a power play right out of the gate.

Even with the Syracuse skaters outnumbering Cornell’s, it couldn’t get anything going. Following two failed attacks earlier in the power play, the Orange looked to make one final push 30 seconds before Daniel would return to the ice.

After decent puck movement across the ice and deep into Cornell’s defensive zone, Bellefontaine controlled the puck just in front of the blue line. With the defense giving her space, she fired off what would be Syracuse’s only shot during its two-minute advantage and it was saved by Belle Mende.

Then, Hannah Johnson and Madison Primeau connected on a great 1-2 sequence with 10 seconds remaining on the power play, leaving Johnson open near the crease, but the puck kicked off of her skate and Cornell gained possession, squandering their opportunity to get back in the game.

“I just don’t feel like we really had our jump tonight,” Britni Smith said. “Whether it was the first three minutes of the game or the entire game, I felt like we just didn’t have our jump.”

Published on January 17, 2023 at 11:23 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon