Syracuse has won the faceoff battle just once in four conference games this season.

If Jessica Sibley is taking the faceoff, she’s trying to overpower her opponent. If it’s Stephanie Grossi, she’s looking to simply get her stick on the ice faster.

“I think (Sibley) kind of rules by physicality. She gets in there and tries to take the other girl’s stick,” Flanagan said. “Steph being a little more diminutive size … she relies on her quickness and her smarts.”

So far this season, Grossi has been the better of the two, winning 50.2 percent of draws to Sibley’s 47.8 percent. As a team, SU (3-4-5, 2-1-1 College Hockey America) will look to improve upon its 47.8 faceoff percentage when it takes on Vermont (6-4-1, 1-2-0 America East) at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Friday and Saturday.

“Faceoffs are critically generally speaking, puck possession,” Flanagan said. “But particularly to break it down, when we’re on the power play to win that faceoff, to have puck possession.”

Though Grossi is just a freshman, Flanagan said she has been the team’s best faceoff taker this season. A smart player, Flanagan said, Grossi understands that trying to win the puck cleanly every time is not a good strategy.

A lot of it has to do with luck, Flanagan said, as the puck might not be dropped cleanly or an opposing forward might pick up a puck that SU won. But recognizing when a player is struggling in the circle is key to Grossi’s success.

“If you know you lost the draw previous to that center, you’re losing a lot, just tie it up, don’t lose the draw cleanly,” Grossi said. “But if you know you can win it, go for the win.”

Sibley is taller and stronger than Grossi and she uses her strength to her advantage when the puck is dropped. She said that if she’s not winning draws, she throws her body into the opponent and hopes to knock the puck loose for one of her teammates to gather.

She also said she sets her feet on the hash marks and her stick parallel to the ice, she starts to shake her stick, something that helps her focus while confusing her opponent. But it hasn’t been producing results so far this season.

“Sibley’s been good in the past. Sibley’s just been struggling lately with her overall faceoffs,” Flanagan said. “She’s just got to work at it … I think for her, it’s a matter of paying attention to who you’re against.”

Although winning or losing the faceoff battle hasn’t directly translated to the standings for SU, Flanagan says they’re vital to the game.

Faceoffs on power plays and penalty kills are the most important because if the team with the advantage wins the puck, it is more likely to keep possession than off an even-strength draw.

In a tie against Penn State, Flangan said, SU was 0-for-7 on faceoffs in the defensive zone during the penalty kill. Then he added that it was no surprise the Nittany Lions scored on two of their four advantages.

In that instance, Syracuse was hurt by its inability to win faceoffs, and it will look to turn the area into a strength moving forward.

“You have to be watching the puck,” Flanagan said. “You have to not only be good with your hands and your stick like I said, but you have to understand you may have to engage physically.”

Published on November 13, 2014 at 12:10 am