Twenty minutes after practice ended, seven skaters were still on the ice at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Jan. 22. They wanted to run a simple drill.

The first skater received a pass as she cut to the net and fired a shot at the goalie. She then swung around the cage, grabbed another puck and passed it to a player waiting at the point who’d shoot, too.

Another puck swung around the boards for the skater at the point to hold in. A player would kick it up to her stick and fire a slapper with the initial skater screening the goalie and hunting for the rebound.

When ran correctly, it encapsulated everything Syracuse (5-17-1, 5-5-0 College Hockey America) wants in the offensive zone. For months, SU head coach Paul Flanagan has preached going to the “dirty areas” to score: fighting for rebounds, screening the goalie and making life as tough as possible for defenders in front of the net. The Orange score 2.04 goals per game, worst in the CHA, and converts 7.4 percent of their shots, second-lowest in the conference. SU’s league-worst scoring margin (-1.5) is more than a goal worse than the team above them, and it led to a 10-game losing streak.

“We’re really trying to work on bearing down in places where we can, and especially in front of the net,” senior forward Brooke Avery said. “That’s really something we do need to work on a lot because we need to start winning more games.”

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Against Robert Morris on Jan. 18, Syracuse seemed to click on the offensive end. Leading goal scorer Emma Polaski hithome a one-timer just under eight minutes into the first period, and Lauren Bellefontaine added to the tally a few minutes later. The Orange fought for loose pucks and generated numerous chances, outshooting their opponent for the third straight game in their first win since Nov. 4.

After the Colonials tied the game at two, Anonda Hoppner appeared to score off a rebound. The referees waved the goal off, ruling it had been kicked in, but it was another sign of progress for Syracuse.

In overtime, Lindsay Eastwood won the game with a slap shot that snuck through traffic in front of the net. It “had eyes,” Flanagan said. The Orange did what they haven’t done all season and beat CHA’s top team.

“Logan (Hicks) had a great screen in overtime, and Lindsay’s shot went in,” Avery said. “So it’s evident that when we do that kind of stuff, it works for us.”

But a day later, it was the same story as in SU’s other 17 losses. Penalties disrupted the flow of the game, and Syracuse also stopped doing what made them successful the night before: generating offense. SU controlled most of the first period, but managed just one goal, another Eastwood slap shot, in the third frame.

“I think we have to start building off the momentum when we’re getting chances in front of the net,” SU’s leading shot-taker Hoppner said. “Because, say in the first period, we’re generating a lot of chances but they aren’t going in, we still have to build off that and bring it into the second period and start putting them in as we go.”

In conference play, Syracuse has shown the offense it’s capable of at times. While still shooting the second-worst in the league (8.8 percent), the Orange score 2.9 goals per game, the second-highest in the league, and have an even scoring margin.

The defense has done their part to help out the offense with shots from the point, Hoppner said. Now it’s time for the forwards to capitalize.

“The (defense) can shoot it from the blue line all they want,” Hoppner said, “But us forwards need to start getting in front of the goalie and taking her eyes away and putting in those rebounds.”

Published on January 24, 2019 at 12:30 am

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder