Syracuse Loses First ACC North Series to Pittsburgh

By Shira Mandell and Matthew Gray

Photo Credit: Maria Kaffes / @mariakaffesimages

PITTSBURGH, PA — Syracuse University Men’s Hockey (4-8-2) battled hard on the road this past weekend against the University of Pittsburgh (9-4-0), but suffered its first two ACCHL losses of the campaign at the hands of the Panthers. SU narrowly fell 4-3 on Friday evening, then concluded the series with a 5-2 defeat on Saturday afternoon.

The opening period of Game One was a tight, physical battle with both sides trading early chances. Pittsburgh got on the board first with a power-play goal from Alex Paluso at 9:48. Syracuse answered later in the frame when Jack Alecia buried a rebound from Nathan McLean at 15:36 to even the score at 1-1 by the end of the first.

The second period saw both teams ramp up the intensity. Syracuse struck early on the man advantage as Ben Brant netted his team leading ninth of the season off a setup from Eli Pendergrass, giving the Orange their first lead of the night. However, it didn’t take the Panthers long to punch right back. Josh Hrip tied the game with Pitt’s second power-play strike at 12:09 before Anothony Sewecke found the back of the net less than two minutes later to put Pitt ahead 3-2. Pitt wasn’t done there - they added one more tally before the end of the period to take a 4-2 lead after 2. 

Syracuse kept pushing in the third. McLean cut the Panther lead to 4-3 just under 5 minutes into the final frame.  The Orange continued to press late in the third period but were unable to find the equalizer.

Finta finished with 30 saves on 34 shots, while Syracuse went 1-for-4 on the power play and held Pitt to 2-for-5. McLean and Brant both recorded a goal and an assist in the effort.

To open Game Two, Syracuse put Pitt back on its heels early by jumping ahead less than eight minutes in thanks to a Mathew McEnroe tally — his first of the campaign. As the Orange struggled to stay out of the penalty box throughout the rest of the frame, the Panthers eventually drew even with 7:32 left before the intermission. 

Just 25 seconds into the middle period, Pitt then grabbed its first lead of the afternoon with another even-strength goal and tacked on another at 16:03 to grow its lead to 3-1.Threatened with two more Panther power-play chances, the Orange stood tall while down a man and silenced both. Still, Pitt struck again with 29.8 ticks left to balloon its cushion to 4-1.

In the final frame, Syracuse left everything out on the ice. Less than a minute in, Brant gave SU’s bench a spark with his team-high 10th goal of the campaign. The Orange were given two more power-play opportunities down the final stretch, but couldn’t find the back of the net again despite generating plenty of dangerous chances. At the other end, the Panthers sealed their victory with one final tally before the final buzzer sounded.

Syracuse will look to bounce back when it hosts Oswego this Friday at 6 p.m. to kick off the program’s annual Hall of Fame Alumni Weekend.

All home games are played at the Tennity Ice Pavilion on Syracuse’s campus and are free for students and the general public. Home games are streamed live on the SU Hockey Network. Radio broadcasts are also available for all away games.