It does not take long for games in the College Hockey America conference to get physical.

Early in the second period of Syracuse’s game against Wayne State on Dec. 4, after five penalties had already been called in the first period, sophomore forward Megan Skelly posted up in front of the Warriors goal.

As she tried to shield Wayne State goaltender Delayne Brian’s vision, Brian took both hands and shoved Skelly in the back. The Orange forward immediately reacted by crosschecking the nearest Warrior defender and was called for the penalty.

The physical and at times frustrated play stands out in all of Syracuse’s games against conference opponents. And the Orange better get used to it. All eight of SU’s final games are against CHA opponents. Syracuse (13-12-1, 4-4 CHA) is deadlocked with Wayne State and Niagara at second in the conference. The rough play and the Orange’s ability to adjust to it could determine the outcome of the program’s second season.

Syracuse’s first dose of physicality in this final stretch comes this weekend, when the Orange heads to Wayne State for games at 7 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

‘It just gets rough – chippy,’ Skelly said. ‘I guess we see these teams a lot more, so if you don’t like a player that did something to you in the game before, you play them three more times, whereas you play Princeton twice, and you probably won’t see them for two years. So it’s a lot different.’

It has taken some time for SU to adjust to the brutal nature of conference play. Of the 23 players on Syracuse’s roster, 17 of them are freshmen or sophomores. Senior defender Gabrielle Beaudry realizes that the Orange’s youth has made it more difficult to adjust to CHA play.

‘I think because we’re such a young team, it’s hard,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot of stronger, older kids out there, so coming into college hockey, you have to get used to it. But now that we’re getting used to it, I think we’re doing well with it.’

After two losses last weekend to conference-leading and No. 1-ranked Mercyhurst, head coach Paul Flanagan felt that his team turned a corner. In the first game, the Orange looked timid in an 8-1 blowout loss. But Saturday, he said that the team finally started to ‘push back’ instead of letting the other team control play.

After a save by goaltender Lucy Schoedel late in the second period of the game Saturday, the two teams got together for a small scuffle in front of the net. As Lakers players started shoving SU skaters, the Orange began shoving right back. The tussle resulted in two penalties for hitting after the whistle, one for Mercyhurst and one for sophomore forward Lisa Mullan.

One of the goals for the Orange of late has been to impose its own style of play. Syracuse is not looking to step back and let teams decide how physical a game will be. The team wants to start making opponents play its game.

‘For the first bit of the game, you have to feel it out,’ Mullan said. ‘…That’s something we have to work on is not letting the other team set the pace for how physical and just get after them. We have to set the tone for how physical we want the game to be.’

With the eight conference games left, Syracuse will see plenty of physicality.

But the Orange does not think that is a bad thing. In fact, some of the players said they would prefer the rugged style of CHA hockey, even if it just gives the team a small mid-game boost.

‘I think it gets people going,’ Mullan said. ‘They get bumped in the corner and in front of the net, and it just gets them fired up. It gets the adrenaline going a little bit. The softer games aren’t as exciting.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on January 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm