In the third period against Princeton on Nov. 10, Abby Moloughney jumped on the ice to replace Emma Polaski, whose penalty had just ended. The puck slipped out of the Syracuse zone, and the freshman picked it up, turning up ice. She outskated the Princeton defenders and only had the goalie to beat to give Syracuse the lead with under four minutes to play.

Moloughney shot the puck low, but was denied, and the game went on to end at 1-1 after a scoreless overtime frame.

Her line with Anonda Hoppner and Lauren Bellefontaine was one of the bright spots for the Syracuse offense early in the season, combining for nine goals and 23 points through the Orange’s opening 13 games. But after a pair of disappointing Thanksgiving weekend results in which Syracuse failed to score, SU head coach Paul Flanagan was forced to shake up his lines and has been experimenting with different combinations since.

Moloughney, Bellefontaine and Hoppner are all newcomers to Syracuse (4-12-1, 4-3 College Hockey America), the former two being freshmen, and Hoppner in her first year with the Orange after transferring from Colgate. All three skaters utilize speed, which helped them mesh in the first two months of Syracuse’s season. Their fast-paced shifts were punctuated with an aggressive forecheck and an ability to get to puck first, something Moloughney said helped them set up plays and move the puck in the offensive zone.

“What makes us successful in the game is when we’re moving our feet, on the forecheck especially,” Hoppner said. “We’re able to pin any team in, the three of us.”

While its newcomers are generating chances close to the net, the finishing has lacked while at even strength, Hoppner said. In the Orange’s 1-1 tie with Princeton on Nov. 10, the three combined for 11 shots, Moloughney claiming seven of them, yet only scored one goal.

For the season, both Moloughney and Hoppner have converted under 10 percent of their shots, and Bellefontaine is at 16 percent, albeit on fewer chances.

“We get so many shots on net, that we just have to be finishing,” Hoppner said. “We work on that a lot in practice – putting the puck in the net and finishing rebounds.”

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Hoppner, a junior, has a background playing for various programs including two years at Colgate, making her more “worldly” when it comes to hockey, Flanagan said. That experience has given her lessons to pass on to Bellefontaine and Moloughney, which the pair have utilized. It’s mostly little things, Hoppner explained, but they go a long way in transitioning from junior hockey to the college level.

The biggest difference between the two is board play. When Hoppner’s younger linemates fail to clear the puck off the walls or don’t check hard enough, she lets them know.

Another change is the added effort players have to crash the net with to look for scoring opportunities. It’s much harder to score “pretty goals” in college, Hoppner said.

“(Hoppner) understands that it’s new to us,” Moloughney said. “But she’s definitely helped us a lot with, ‘Try this, try that.’”

Flanagan said it was what they did with the puck more than the pressure they applied without it that separated them. He pointed out how some other lines will get the puck and “throw it away or bat the thing around” instead of stringing together passes and extending time in the offensive zone.

After a four-game stretch where the Orange scored two goals, a new line combination will have to replicate Moloughney, Bellefontaine and Hoppner’s level of play to get the Orange back in the win column for the first time since Nov. 4.

“That line does a real good job of puck possession, and they make things happen,” Flanagan said. “They get chances, and I think all of our lines are pretty good at forechecking and working hard, but now it’s about what you do when you have it.”

Published on December 5, 2018 at 12:03 am

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder