CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the number of teams Syracuse has fewer penalties than was misstated. Syracuse commits more penalties than all but nine teams in Division I. 

The Orange is feeling lucky – rightfully so, and at just the right time, too.

The same problems that have plagued the Orange all season are still there. Syracuse wastes chances in front of net, is anemic on the power play and commits more penalties than all but nine teams in Division I.

“But we’re still winning,” senior forward Jacquie Greco said.

Riding an eight-game winning streak, Syracuse (18-11-1, 12-3-1 College Hockey America) hosts league leader Mercyhurst (22-6-1, 13-3-0 CHA) Friday and Saturday with the conference title on the line. The Lakers have been the Orange’s bogey team for all five years of the SU program’s existence.

Not now, though. SU’s fortunes have turned. The team feels it. The scoreboards show it. Paul Flanagan’s players know it, and he feels the monkey on his team’s back is gone.

“We had played well, we’ve come close, but I still think there was that little – in the back of their minds, maybe a little bit of doubt,” Flanagan said. “But this team hasn’t.”

SU outshot Rochester Institute of Technology 30-12 through two periods Saturday night, but led just 2-1 against less-skilled opponents. In some respects, it was the story of the season. The Orange has outshot the likes of No. 10 Northeastern and No. 6 Clarkson in losses. SU’s dominated lesser opponents while still failing to capitalize and dropping points – sometimes all of them.

The Orange’s luck was audible Saturday night when Kristina Moss’s 6-on-5 would-be equalizer clanked high off of the right pipe of Kallie Billadeau’s goal with just more than two minutes remaining.

Billadeau said she got lucky. The whole team did. SU earned a weekend sweep of the Tigers, killing nearly 30 penalty minutes in two days and playing stingy defense even-strength or worse. SU played about 40 seconds down 6-on-3 Friday night in Rochester.

The luck, made or otherwise, is breeding confidence.

“It was crazy, but I knew we could do it,” freshman defender Nicole Renault said of her team’s late defensive stand Saturday. “We did it last night. Our players that were out there are just strong players that are willing to take anything for the team.”

A newly confident SU now turns an eye toward Mercyhurst this weekend and potentially its first-ever conference title. The Orange welcomes MU just a point behind in the CHA standings – a win is worth two points, a draw is worth one – on the regular season’s penultimate weekend.

A win over the Lakers would be historic. Senior captains Greco and Holly Carrie-Mattimoe have never beat MU. No player in SU history has. And if the Orange takes the majority of the points from this week, it will set itself up to host the CHA tournament semifinals and final, just as it did in 2011, giving the Orange an edge in qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

This year’s team has talked all year long about a swagger, cohesion and confidence that’s been lacking in recent SU teams. Armed with those attributes and a touch of previously absent luck, the Orange can take the league.

“You have to embrace the fact that they’re the team we’ve been chasing and not fear ‘Oh no, it’s Mercyhurst,’” Flanagan said. “And I think we played that way, maybe in the past, and didn’t play with enough confidence, enough composure. And I think this group, I feel this group, they can sense it.”

Syracuse won’t leave Tennity Ice Pavilion for the rest of the regular season. The Orange hosts Mercyhurst this weekend, then a pair of games against Lindenwood the following.

As SU headed home after Friday night’s win, Greco and the team had a simple message for themselves.

“No more road trips,” she said, “meaning we don’t want to go anywhere else. We want to host the tournament and we want it to be here.”

Published on February 11, 2013 at 11:45 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_