Syracuse’s final weekend is a weekend of grudges.

“They’ll just as soon punch you, hit you and take their chances on the kill,” head coach Paul Flanagan said of the Rochester Institute of Technology. “It’s pretty effective for them.”

SU takes on RIT on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, Pa., in the semifinals of the College Hockey America conference tournament. The inaugural season series between the two Upstate New York rivals in the Tigers’ first Division-I season is littered with penalties, called and uncalled, as RIT plays a chippy brand of hockey that has almost instantly created a rivalry with the Orange.

If the Orange wins against RIT, it will likely face tournament hosts Mercyhurst in the championship Saturday at 3 p.m., as long as the Lakers defeat Robert Morris. SU has never beaten Mercyhurst.

But to earn the chance to avenge past shortcomings against the Lakers, SU must fight through a different mentally and physically exhausting test in RIT.

“We know it’s going to be physical, so I think we’re going to step it up in the weight room a little bit,” Holly Carrie-Mattimoe said after the Orange’s Senior Night victory over Lindenwood. “Just making sure that we’re going hard but not too hard so we’re not tired, as well. I think it’s just a focus thing and a mental thing at this point.”

Physically, SU has to match RIT’s muscular lineup boasting six players who stand 5 feet, 8 inches or taller. Mentally, the Orange must resist the temptation to hit back after the whistle. On Feb. 9, Shiann Darkangelo earned a five-minute momentum-breaking major after a reactionary hit on RIT’s Kristina Moss.

Finishing power plays will also be critical. SU is 19-of-150, the fifth worst in the nation. In the Orange’s four meetings with the Tigers this season, there have been 48 total penalties. Each game featured at least 10 penalties each.

“They were trying to trap us into theirs, so we just focused on our game and not get involved in that,” forward Jacquie Greco said after a Feb. 9 win over RIT.

A fourth win over the Tigers will send SU to the finals, likely against the Lakers and with ultimate redemption on the line.

In five years, Mercyhurst has bested the Orange in 22 of 23 meetings and ended SU’s season three times in the CHA tournament – twice in the final and two years ago by one goal in Tennity Ice Pavilion.

Mercyhurst has effectively locked up the lone CHA spot in the NCAAs, so this weekend is all the Orange has to play for. When Carrie-Mattimoe speaks of SU’s upcoming trip to Erie, it’s with the aim of a championship, but overarchingly, of revenge.

“Me and Greco have been trying four years,” Carrie-Mattimoe said, “trying to get that the past three years, now four, trying to get that championship and ultimately beating Mercyhurst.”

The Lakers play a direct style, constantly crashing the net and testing the Orange’s physical and mental endurance. With Lakers forwards seemingly perpetually following up Mercyhurst shots, SU is under pressure well after plays are seemingly finished in the crease.

And while the Orange has proven it can match Mercyhurst and its style of play, it has yet to prove it can do so for a full game.

SU held a 3-2 lead at home against the Lakers on Feb. 15, but lost focus and the game 5-3, as it couldn’t match Mercyhurst’s all-action offense in the third period. That collapse ultimately cost the Orange a shot at the regular-season title and possibly an NCAA bid.

The Orange will have revenge on its mind Friday and Saturday, if it makes it. And successful revenge will mean Syracuse’s first-ever conference championship.

“Championship win, that’s on the line,” Greco said. “And we’re going to get it, we’re going to bring it back home.”

Published on March 7, 2013 at 1:18 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_