Following another pileup in front of the Syracuse net, Orange forward Megan Skelly and Mercyhurst’s Jess Jones got into a shoving match. Skelly skated to the penalty box for hitting after the whistle.

There, she joined teammate Ashley Cockell, who was called for roughing 25 seconds earlier.

The pushing and shoving was a constant part of Syracuse’s two-game series with No. 5 Mercyhurst. Both teams played physically in an intense conference matchup that ended in another Lakers sweep of the Orange. The physical play resulted in 28 total penalties and plenty of power-play opportunities.

The all-out play came at a cost, though. Syracuse took penalties for roughing, hooking, checking, interference and hitting after the whistle, which led to 14 Mercyhurst power plays in the series. And in crucial situations, that cost the Orange.

‘We have to stay out of the box and just mind what we say to the refs and how we control our sticks,’ SU head coach Paul Flanagan said.

The Orange didn’t break through and beat the conference powerhouse, but it did force the Lakers to earn everything they got. The smaller and younger Syracuse was not intimidated by Mercyhurst like it has been in the past.

‘We definitely stepped it up as compared to last series against Mercyhurst,’ Skelly said. ‘We want to beat them. Everyone hates Mercyhurst.’

The hatred for a Mercyhurst team SU has never beaten was on display all weekend. The Orange pestered the more talented Mercyhurst squad from the first whistle.

Flanagan said he was proud of his team’s response to the physical play.

‘There was a lot of situations where a player went into the boards or just went after someone,’ Flanagan said. ‘Our kids laid their body on the line.’

Flanagan said the officials overcompensated to control the physical play. He said the referees’ quick whistles affected the flow of Friday’s 4-0 loss, in which Mercyhurst had nine power plays and Syracuse had seven.

The head coach felt the officials should have let the teams battle more before calling penalties. In an effort to control the game, he said the officials were inconsistent.

‘Some of them are just little love taps when (the referee’s) calling slashing,’ Flanagan said. ‘Then someone gets railed, and there’s no call.’

Against the nation’s highest-scoring offense, nine power plays in one game were too many to overcome. Flanagan said the penalty kill, which limited Mercyhurst to two goals in those nine chances, kept the Orange in the game.

But it also prevented SU from scoring goals.

‘We’ve got a lot of our better players, offensive players killing penalties, and you can’t kill nine penalties,’ Flanagan said. ‘You just wear out your best offensive players, so that’s what’s tough.’

The Orange fought off six Mercyhurst power plays until the Lakers scored their third goal on a five-on-three advantage in the third period to put the game out of reach Friday.

In both games, the Lakers earned power-play goals in the deciding periods. Freshman goaltender Kallie Billadeau, who recorded 40 saves in both games, said the power-play opportunities cost SU its chance to make a comeback.

‘A lot of their goals were on the power play,’ Billadeau said. ‘I feel like we were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, especially in that third period.’

The physical play left SU exhausted by the end of the weekend. But the Orange proved it could match Mercyhurst’s intensity and style of play. It was a total team effort despite being overmatched physically.

Flanagan said the challenging weekend was good for Syracuse. The physicality brought out the best in his team. He said the Orange needs to bring that effort to the ice for the rest of the season.

‘That effort that we responded to a real physical game was really important because that’s tough,’ Flanagan said. ‘A lot of nights, it’s just not like that.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on February 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu