BUFFALO — While everyone on her team stood on or near the bench, Lindsay Eastwood was at the edge of the center ice circle looking at the scorer’s box. To her right lay hats thrown by the traveling Syracuse fans. Eastwood had just completed her hat trick, but the officials were reviewing the goal.

“I’m just making sure that they can’t take that one away,” Eastwood said. “I was right there, saw it go in, so I was right there telling them what I saw at least.”

As one referee picked up the hats, another came back onto the ice with one arm straight in front of him. Good goal. Syracuse led Mercyhurst, 4-3, a score that held to the final horn.

In two of the last three years, the Lakers (15-14-5, 12-6-2 College Hockey America) knocked out the Orange (12-21-3, 10-8-2) in the conference tournament before going on to win the championship. On Thursday night at the Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo, SU “put the icing on the cake,” taking the season series 3-2, Eastwood said, and advancing to the CHA championship game. On Friday, it plays Robert Morris at 4:30 p.m. in the same arena, attempting to win the CHA crown and earn its first bid to the NCAA tournament in program history.

“It was our turn,” Eastwood said. “And third time’s the charm I guess.”

On Tuesday, SU head coach Paul Flanagan said the Orange knew what has made them successful, which centered around playing “smart” and not turning the puck over. For the majority of the first period, Syracuse did the opposite. It resembled how the Orange played in their winless nonconference slate.

Mercyhurst got to loose pucks first, Syracuse struggled to clear the puck out of its defensive zone and Allie Munroe stretch-passes were cut-off in the neutral zone and taken back the other way by the Lakers. “You gotta get a bounce,” SU head coach Paul Flanagan said on Tuesday, and that’s what happened.

A Lauren Bellefontaine backhand was handled awkwardly by Mercyhurst goalie Kennedy Blair, and Eastwood swooped in to finish the chance. Throughout the season, Flanagan wanted weakside defenders to jump into the rush, which is what Eastwood did.

“I stopped at the net, which is key,” Eastwood said. “… I was in the right place at the right time.”

Mercyhurst’s relentless pressure finally caved the Orange defense with under a minute to play in the opening 20 minutes. Goalie Ady Cohen saved her defenders multiple times during the game, but after making an initial save, she was rendered helpless in the crease as Emma Nuutinen slotted the rebound home.

Flanagan started Bellefontaine, Abby Moloughney and Emma Polaski in the second period, and it helped Syracuse regain momentum. But a Summer-Rae Dobson goal took that away. A Mercyhurst power play unit that threatened to score multiple times on its first opportunity converted on its second try. About a minute-and-a-half later, the Orange responded.

On a delayed penalty, Kelli Rowswell’s drop pass put the puck on a tee for Eastwood to one-time. Blair seemingly didn’t even see the puck until it was past her and into the top corner of her net.

“It’s definitely up there,” Eastwood said. “I’ve never sniped top corner without someone tipping it, so it was nice to see that go in.”

Courtesy of SU Athletics

Then, after a successful penalty kill by the Orange, Munroe sprung Anonda Hoppner, who was coming out of the box, for a breakaway. The Mercyhurst goalie tried a diving poke check, but while being hooked, Hoppner flipped the puck over the sprawling netminder to give SU a 3-2 lead.

Mercyhurst again pulled even with a Maggie Knot wrister from the blue line on the power play. Just over a minute later, Eastwood secured her hattrick and the final Orange lead of the night.

“This is getting over the hump, beating a nemesis that always beat us in the playoffs, for one,” Flanagan said. “When I got to their coach, I said, ‘First time for everything.’”

The season has ebbed and flowed, Flanagan said, and the Orange showed resilience to come off a 10-game losing streak and go 6-4-2 in conference play. They peaked at the right times, Eastwood said. It happened time and time again as the season wore older. SU “dug deep” to beat Lindenwood in the penultimate home game, securing third place in the conference and giving them a chance to fight for first in an away series at Robert Morris the following weekend.

That didn’t happen, and the Orange lost twice to Robert Morris in the closing weekend of the regular season. Syracuse had to “move on,” Flanagan said, and refocus for the CHA tournament. And again, it showed it can make big runs in must-win situations. Lindenwood grabbed the early lead in the quarterfinal of the conference tournament on Wednesday, but the Orange scored four unanswered in the middle frame to secure a date with Mercyhurst.

In facing an opponent that has dominated the CHA tournament for years, winning the first nine renditions and 12 total, Syracuse was counted out, Munroe said. Everyone thought it would be Robert Morris and Mercyhurst in the final for the second year in a row, she added. So one more time, SU played its best hockey when it needed to. It didn’t let a slow first period overcome them like it had during the 10-game losing skid. It didn’t let Cohen’s heroics at the back go in vain like in 1-0 loss to RIT on Feb. 15.

This time, the Orange had an answer.

“We’re doing it for each other, and that means a lot,” Eastwood said. “When you’re playing for each other, everyone seems to go a little harder, and I think that’s what’s going on here: We’re really putting our hearts on the line here.”

Published on March 7, 2019 at 11:45 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder