Ice Hockey

Syracuse ice hockey suffers another late-game collapse in 2-2 tie against RIT

Colin Davy | Staff Photographer

Syracuse gave up two late goals on Friday night at Tennity Ice Pavilion. RIT came back to tie the game at 2-2.

Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan stormed out of the locker room, cut off the first question asked to him and began tearing apart his team’s effort. Midway through answering questions, he noticed he bled from a cut on his hand.

“Ah sh*t,” Flanagan said, “… I smashed something in the locker room.”

“Story of our year, blowing games in the third period … I can’t say anything good, to be honest with you.”

Syracuse (4-7-4, 3-2-2 College Hockey America) tied Rochester Institute of Technology (3-15-1, 1-5-1), 2-2, in yet another third-period collapse. After going up 2-0, SU allowed two third-period goals and never managed a third goal to put away an RIT team that was physical with the Orange from the start.

Halfway through the third period, as RIT searched for a game tying goal, SU goalie Abbey Miller gloved a shot during the rush. After the whistle, the Tiger’s Brooke Baker skated in and jammed her stick at Miller’s left hand, resulting in a trip to the penalty box. That was only one of several physical altercations between the two teams as the refs frequently had to separate players even after play stopped.



But as the third period wore on, RIT cut into Syracuse’s lead and eventually tied the game.

“Hit, high stick, slash, needle, getting underneath (our skin), that’s my impression,” Flanagan said of what he thought RIT’s game plan was. “I thought it worked pretty well.”

“I think they tried to get under our skin and they did,” redshirt sophomore defender Lindsay Eastwood said.

The frustration boiled over when Kendall Cornine scored her second goal of the night to tie the game, beating Miller’s high glove-side. As the two sides squared up for the ensuing faceoff, Miller repeatedly bashed her stick into the post.

SU spent 8:32 on the power play in the third period, including a 5-on-3, but couldn’t score the third goal.

In the span of about 10 minutes, Syracuse had gone from searching for a dagger, to searching for a game saver. It never came.

These late game collapses aren’t new to the Orange. It gave up three third-period goals to Mercyhurst to lose 4-3, took a 2-2 tie to Robert Morris thanks to allowing a late goal and saw two late goals on back-to-back days turn a potential win and tie versus Colgate into a tie and a loss.

“It’s tough,” Allie Munroe said. “We’ve lost games we should’ve won this season and this was just another one, and everyone’s pretty disappointed.”

The Orange started the night strong, with a two-goal first period that saw two unlikely faces — Munroe and Kelli Rowswell — score to give SU a two-goal cushion over the Tigers.

Syracuse maintained that lead in the second period, but couldn’t tack on to its lead and possibly bury RIT, opening SU up to what seemed like an almost inevitable collapse.

“One of the worst defeats I’ve been around,” Flanagan said. “It was an awful hockey game. Brutal. Just brutal.”





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