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Hannah Johnson stared down Lindsay Maloney, getting ready for a faceoff. As soon as the puck was dropped, Johnson immediately got her stick on it and flung it behind her to Kambel Beacom in front of RIT’s blue line.

Despite RIT quickly clearing the puck across the ice behind Syracuse’s goal, Beacom was the first player to retrieve it. After bringing the puck around the goal, Beacom kept her eyes up, scanning for an open teammate. Near the center ice, Madison Primeau was wide open in the center of RIT’s only three skaters on the ice.

When Primeau received the puck, Kyla Bear and Mia Tsilemos were behind her, but Primeau had an open lane down the center of the ice. With a quick burst, Primeau was able to easily get behind the defenders, setting up a one-on-one with Sarah Coe. Primeau unleashed a powerful left-handed shot to score Syracuse’s third goal of the night and second in the last minute of play.

“That was just a great heads-up play,” head coach Britni Smith said. “(Primeau) being able to find the ice in the middle and then obviously (Beacom) being able to thread the needle.”

Anchored by its strong play in the third period Syracuse (9-17-1, 5-4 College Hockey America) won 4-1 against RIT (4-21-1, 1-8-1 CHA). In yesterday’s loss against RIT, SU had to play catch-up after going down four goals in the first period, but tonight it didn’t trail for a second.

Smith said her team needed to come out strong from the puck drop, and that’s exactly what happened. After forcing Jessie Burks to turn the puck over in Syracuse’s defensive zone 3:10 into the game, Lauren Bellefontaine pushed the puck up the ice. Mik Todd flung the puck across the ice to Maya D’Arcy, who hastily dropped it down to Rhéa Hicks near the goal line.

With Karly Kolssak on her back and blocking the goal, Hicks made a 180-degree turn to bring the puck toward the center of the ice. In the process, Bellefontaine skated towards the crease.

Hicks decided to dump the puck off to Bellefontaine, who had momentum towards the goal. All five RIT skaters shifted their attention to her. As a result, Johnson, who was positioned in front of the blue line, was wide open and abruptly skated toward Bellefontaine. Seeing her teammate, Bellefontaine passed back to Johnson and she scored a one-timer.

Despite its success in the first period, Syracuse couldn’t bring its momentum into the second. Throughout the game’s middle 20 minutes, the Orange only had four shots on goal and struggled to apply pressure in RIT’s defensive zone. This allowed the Tigers to pepper shots in, with 14 on goal in the period, but Arielle DeSmet and Syracuse’s backline kept the Orange’s slim lead intact.

Three minutes into the third period, RIT’s shot-taking paid off as Amy Dobson put the Tigers on the board and tied the game 1-1. When an opposing team makes a big play against Syracuse, life has been sucked out of the Orange at times this season – but that wasn’t the case tonight.

Bailey Kehl and Megan McCormick were both sent to the penalty box 40 seconds after tying the game, giving the Orange a 5-on-3 advantage for the ensuing two minutes. Syracuse quickly applied pressure and had great puck movement, but RIT’s defense initially staved the Orange off.

Undeterred by RIT’s strong defense, Tatum White defeated Maloney in a faceoff, keeping SU well within the Tigers’ defensive zone. With only three skaters on the ice, RIT had to get clever defensively, so instead of having its skaters follow the puck, it positioned them in a diamond shape near the crease. Addie Carr was positioned next to the left goal post, Bear next to the right goal post, Maloney outside the center of the crease in line with the center of the goal and Coe in front of the net.

To manipulate RIT’s defense, Bellefontaine, Mae Batherson and White swung the puck around the ice trying to catch the Tigers’ defense out of position. Bellefontaine attempted a pass to Batherson across the ice, but Maloney deflected it and the puck went straight to Batherson in the center of the ice. RIT’s defense stayed straight up, but its attention shifted to White on the left after Batherson passed the puck to her.

As RIT’s defensive focus shifted toward her, White quickly dished the puck to Bellefontaine across the ice. When Bellefontaine received the puck, the Tigers’ defense was completely out of position to stop her and she gave Syracuse a 2-1 lead.

“We got (RIT’s skaters) moving a lot,” Bellefontaine said. “They didn’t really know what to do on the five-on-three and it’s really difficult to defend. The lane was there so I took it.”

Right as Kehl and McCormick returned to the ice after Bellefontaine’s goal, Primeau doubled the Orange’s lead giving it a two-score cushion for the game’s final 14 minutes. Although Primeau was called for body-checking with 4:19 remaining in the game, giving RIT a great opportunity to cut Syracuse’s lead in half, Sarah Thompson responded with a shorthanded goal and the Orange killed the Tigers’ power play and cemented the victory.

“We’ve been harping on the importance of our special teams in these tough games when they’re tied. Those are going to be the difference makers,” Bellefontaine said.

Published on January 25, 2023 at 11:10 pm

Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon