Two wins. That’s all Syracuse needs to match its all-time record for victories.

Following a disappointing season in which the team finished 10-22-3 overall, the Orange (16-11-1, 10-3-1 College Hockey America) was determined to play better this year. But after losing its first two games of the season, it didn’t look like SU was going to improve.

Last season, Syracuse ended with a 5-10-2 conference record and was knocked out of the conference tournament in the first round. This year, the Orange won its sixth conference game in January against Lindenwood, and is just seven points away from locking up the No. 2 seed in the CHA tournament.

“I think our team chemistry off the ice is 10 times better than last year,” said forward Shiann Darkangelo. “Everyone gets along and everyone knows that our goal is to win CHA.”

While this season has gone much better than last, SU is still chasing its best record as a program. Syracuse finished 18-17-1 overall and 8-8-0 in conference play three years ago. During the weekend the Orange set a new best mark for conference wins, sweeping Robert Morris on the road.

But according to Darkangelo and forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe, the goal this year wasn’t to have the best regular season in program history, it was to have the most successful postseason.

“To go far in that tournament would be a huge thing,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “The will to win. We all came in here knowing what we want to do, and I think we’re proving it on the ice.

Since losing five of six between Dec. 7 and Jan. 15, SU has been on a tear. Syracuse is riding a six-game winning streak, with all six victories coming against conference foes.

Earlier in the season, Carrie-Mattimoe talked about the team’s need to play well in regular season conference games in order to prepare for the tournament. Overall, the Orange has the second best CHA record, and only has one more loss than league-leader Mercyhurst.

Head coach Paul Flanagan said part of the success is due to the rising level of competition in the conference and SU’s ability to adapt.

“The league has changed, I mean we have matured as a program,” Flanagan said. “As we’ve matured, the expectation should be that we should get more wins.”

Since the birth of the Syracuse program, RIT, Lindenwood, and Penn State have joined the CHA. The Orange has taken advantage of those young programs and has a 7-0-1 record against them this season. Four out of SU’s final six games are against RIT and Lindenwood.

But while beating up on young teams might not be something to be proud of, Flanagan said it’s important to the team’s success as a whole.

“We would expect to win, maybe not all of those games, but at least a large percentage of them,” Flanagan said. “I think the combination of the new teams and the fact that we’re a veteran program contributes to that (success).”

Winning easy games against lesser teams can boost confidence, but forward Margot Scharfe said sometimes not being able to outplay some of the harder teams has helped the team focus and get better.

“I think we realize that we have to be a gritty team,” Scharfe said. “We need to work as hard as we can and not let anyone slide.”

Letting games get away hasn’t been a major problem for Syracuse, but it has added games to the loss column. In October, the Orange lost a game to Quinnipiac when the Bobcats scored with seven seconds remaining in overtime. Then, in December, SU lost two games in a row by one point to Clarkson.

Flanagan said those two games, specifically, helped motivate the team to not only get better on the ice, but also off of it. Team chemistry has been something that Flanagan has preached this season, and it’s rubbed off on his players, as well.

“I think we are a lot more cohesive and we all love each other,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “In seasons, you’re going to have lots of ups and downs. But when the team’s cohesive, there’s going to be a lot less downs and I think that adds to our winning.”

Published on February 6, 2013 at 1:10 am

Contact David: dlauterb@syr.edu