By Isabella Apple
Syracuse, N.Y-- .The Syracuse Orange (1-0-1) traveled south to face the NYU Violets (1-0-1) for their second straight road trip of the season.
There was no shortage of physicality between the two teams in the first, both teams spending their fair amount of time in the sin bin. Syracuse’s Ford Hatchett was the first penalized in the game, getting called for a slash with eight minutes left in the opening period.
NYU’s strong special teams capitalized quickly on their first man advantage of the game, giving the Violets a 1-0 lead in the second half of the opening frame.
With a little more than two minutes remaining in the first, NYU was called for two penalties, killing off one before going straight back to the box as time expired, leaving them to defend the remaining 1:46 to kill starting the second period.
It didn’t take long for NYU to get back on the powerplay. 4:40 into the second, NYU tallied another powerplay goal. The penalties didn’t slow down from there. Syracuse and NYU exchanged players to the box until they skated four-on-three, in favor of Syracuse 7:55 into the second frame.
Again, NYU’s penalty kill came up big, killing off the four-on-three and then going to a powerplay of their own. NYU continued their dominance with the man advantage, tallying a third powerplay goal to take a commanding 3-0 lead with 11:07 remaining in the second.
But Syracuse wouldn’t go down easy. Matt Jacobs buried a loose puck on the powerplay to get the Orange on the board with nine minutes remaining in the second.
The avalanche of second-period goals didn’t stop there, with Ford Hatchett firing a laser from the point during another man advantage for Syracuse, cutting NYU’s lead in half.
With the momentum finally swinging Syracuse’s way, NYU grabbed back their two-goal lead on a breakaway leaving 2:53 on the clock in the second. The Violets hadn’t had enough just yet. As freshman defenseman Mackenzie Murphy got sent to the box for slashing with 1:01 remaining, the Violets added a back-breaking 5th goal with just seconds on the clock in the second frame.
The Orange went into the third period unable to stay out of the box and, for the second time, losing by three goals.
Defenseman Ford Hatchett knows giving up four powerplay goals is no recipe to win.
“We gave up four powerplay goals I think. That’s despicable. It can’t happen,” Hatchett said. “Special teams were the story of the game and they kicked our butts in those departments.”
Syracuse’s penalty struggles didn’t end with the second period. Forward Lucas Prestamo was called for roughing just over a minute into the third frame. NYU matched, getting a penalty of their own minutes later. The five-on-four didn’t last long, as captain Peter Owen Hayward and an NYU athlete bought themselves matching two-minute minors.
The last chance for a comeback was given to the Orange when NYU took a major penalty with 5:35 remaining in the third. However, even with an empty net, Syracuse was unable to get another goal past the NYU goaltender Patrick Cavanaugh.
An empty netter was the final nail in the coffin for Syracuse, ending the game with 41 shots on goal to NYU’s 35, and a final score of 6-2.
Captain Peter Owen Hayward says the team needs to fine-tune communication on special teams to bounce back in the second half of the doubleheader.
“I think we need to have a whiteboard session about the five-on-three and all get on the same page, but five-on-four I actually thought we were moving the puck well, and tomorrow we just need to get some bounces and capitalize on our chances,” said Hayward.
Syracuse will have another crack at this NYU team on Saturday, October 12 with a chance to get back in the win column before leaving New York City. Don’t forget to tune in at https://gonyuathletics.com/watch/?Live=506&type=Live for the puck drop at 9:00 p.m.
Contact me:
By email: iengelha@syr.edu