Last weekend, Syracuse’s 5-2 loss to Cornell cemented the end to a nonconference slate that saw the Orange go 0-13-1. But this isn’t a new trend. The program has won just two nonconference games in the last three seasons to 33 losses. Against top-10 teams this season, SU has lost all 10 of its contests, too.

The good news for Syracuse is that only one other College Hockey America team, Penn State, has beaten a top-10 team — the six CHA schools went 1-28-5 against ranked teams. The second half of the CHA standings are among the bottom-six in the country in RPI, including the Orange. With the conference’s parity, Syracuse (6-18-2, 6-5-1 College Hockey America) has hope with eight CHA games remaining in the season to compete for a conference championship.

“I think a lot of us are similar in the CHA,” SU junior Allie Olnowich said. “Each team knows they’re the underdogs when playing other teams. That’s the way it’s always been, so when we play each other, it’s all about who wants it more, who’s gonna go the hardest, and that makes the physicality go up, the games get more intense.”

Syracuse scheduled the most games against top ranked opponents out of any CHA team, hoping to learn from the best, head coach Paul Flanagan said. “Maybe we can take a page out of their book,” Flanagan said after 6-1 and 9-1 losses to No. 1 Wisconsin in early December.

The main difference between the top national teams and CHA rivals is the disparity in skating skills, affecting the speed of the game. Flanagan hoped scheduling faster, more talented teams in the beginning of the season would make SU more “battle-hardened” for conference play.

“You’re fighting for every point,” Flanagan said of CHA play. “That’s the big difference.”

Susie Teuscher | Digital Design Editor

Against faster opponents, Syracuse learned how to “think ahead of the play” and make quicker decisions, Flanagan said. Compared to the top teams, CHA play has a “bump-and-run” style, typically with less advanced systems and passing.

Leading scorer Emma Polaski described conference play as “more gritty, more hard-working.” That may be, Olnowich said, because CHA players are often overlooked in the recruiting process by the top teams.

During the first weekend of March, all six teams — Mercyhurst, Lindenwood, Penn State, RIT, Robert Morris and Syracuse — will compete in the CHA Tournament, with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Mercyhurst is the last CHA team to win a NCAA tournament game and advance to the Frozen Four, in 2014.  This season, Mercyhurst, the highest nationally ranked team in the conference, has the 16th-best RPI out of 35 D-I schools.

The Orange have made the CHA Championship three of the last four years, but they haven’t won any of them.

“I think we’re just sick of it,” defender Dakota Derrer said earlier this season.

SU hasn’t won the tournament in the 11 years of the program’s existence. Now, Syracuse sits in third place with 13 points in the conference, six points behind first-place Robert Morris. Still, SU knows the deal: if they beat a couple CHA teams in a row, they’ll finally compete in an NCAA tournament game.

“We know each other,” Olnowich said, “We know the players, we know how they play, we know what’s on the line, we know we might see them come playoff time.”

Published on February 3, 2019 at 7:42 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman