No. 3 Syracuse Completes Massive 8-7 Comeback Victory over No. 6 NYU March 16, 2019 Owen Sienko- Syracuse, NY
The ESCHL tournament kicked off on Friday afternoon with a thrilling matchup between the third-seeded Syracuse Orange (19-10-2) and the sixth-seeded NYU Violets (9-17-1). The Orange split their last series with NYU in late January after sweeping the Violets just before the winter break. The winners of Friday’s quarterfinals game would advance to the semifinals to face off against the Stony Brook Seawolves on Saturday night. NYU dominated the first period, racking up four goals over the first twenty minutes of play. Despite this, the game got off to a slow start initially, with the teams combining for just three shots in the first five minutes. The first goal finally came on a powerplay courtesy of Syracuse defenseman Stephen Bressi, who was called for tripping 6:33 into the game. 1:09 into the man advantage, NYU freshman forward Frank Horowitz received a pass from forward Adam Peck and skated to the center of the zone. There, he turned a wrist shot on net and past the blocker of senior goaltender Jake Kahler. Horowitz has been an Orange killer this season, scoring three goals in six games against Syracuse prior to Friday afternoon. Less than two minutes later, with 9:12 elapsed, NYU forward Jack Orne delivered his club’s second goal. After receiving a pass from forward Jake Geller, Orne skated into the zone towards the net, shaking off strong resistance from SU senior forward Trip Franzese, and flung a powerful wrist shot over the glove of Kahler and into the top right corner of the net. NYU continued to control the pace of the game throughout the remainder of the period except for a brief two-minute stay by Syracuse in the NYU zone, which was stifled by strong defensive play from the Violets. With 2:37 showing on the clock, after the rush had concluded, the Orange received a bench minor for having two many men on the ice, resulting in the Violets’ third powerplay opportunity of the game. They made sure to capitalize on it, as a third NYU goal came 29 seconds later. An initial shot from forward Brandon Ritchey was stopped by Kahler, but the puck bounced to the right side of the slot for John Kowalewski to jam in a rebound. A bad Syracuse line change resulted in a fourth NYU goal with 1:18 remaining in the period, when Adam Peck received a pass from freshman defenseman James Long. Peck carried the puck into the offensive zone and sniped a shot over Kahler’s right shoulder and into the top left corner. The period would end with a score of 4-0 in favor of the Violets. Going into the second period, Syracuse head coach Connor Treacy made the decision to activate senior goaltender Michael Cuozzo from the bench in relief of Jake Kahler. “If you’re backing up you always gotta be ready to go at any time so I just wanted to go out there and shut it down so the guys could come back and tie it,” Cuozzo said after the game. “I just wanted to play with nothing to lose for the boys.” He certainly did just that, as his team went on a run in the second period, scoring four goals to make the game competitive again. The first Syracuse goal came 1:49 into the period, when junior forward Matt Jacobs flew a saucer pass from the right wing into the slot to Syracuse points leader Peter Owen Hayward, who managed to get a shot off into the top left corner of the net. The Violets would answer with their own goal 47 seconds later thanks to a great solo effort by Brandon Ritchey, who cut through the Syracuse defense with slick stickhandling and backhanded a shot past Cuozzo to make it a 5-1 game. Ritchey would register another point with an assist 7:00 into the period. His excellent shot from the point was miraculously stopped by Cuozzo and sat loose in front of the net, where senior forward Mason Gallegos cashed in on the rebound to extend his team’s lead to five goals. With 6:33 left in the period, things looked bleak for the Orange when Peter Owen Hayward was sent to the penalty box for slashing. 32 seconds later, the puck was reacquainted with the back of the Syracuse net, but the goal was called off due to the fact that the net had come loose. On the same play, SU sophomore forward Connor Preston received a five-minute major penalty for slashing. Oddly enough, the long penalty kill shifted the momentum in favor of the Orange, and they would go on to score two shorthanded goals. Alternate captain Peter Owen Hayward echoed this sentiment, saying, With 3:19 remaining in the period, Matt Jacobs rushed into the NYU zone up the right wing, spun around a defenseman, and sent a pass to Peter Owen Hayward, who launched a shot past Cavanaugh’s blocker and electrified his bench. The Orange penalty kill unit would use that energy to generate another shorthanded goal with 1:56 remaining in the period. Senior defenseman Stephen Bressi rushed up the right wing, stickhandled around a defender, and backhanded a pass to senior forward Joseph Pucciarelli, who ripped a one-timer into the back of the net. The Orange weren’t done yet in the second period and would cut the NYU lead to two goals with just 38 seconds left. After a Stephen Bressi shot from the point was stopped by Cavanaugh, the puck was loose at the left side of the net. Spotting the loose puck, Peter Owen Hayward dove across the slot and swept the puck into the side of the net for a hat trick in the waning seconds of the second period. Hayward’s hat trick contributed to his four-point night for him, by the end of which he had scored 150 career points. “All the hard work on those goals was done by my teammates,” Hayward said of his offensive production in the second period. “I was the beneficiary of some great plays and finally found the puck luck that’s been missing the past couple months.” The Orange carried that momentum from the end of the second period into the third, scoring a goal just 51 seconds after the opening puck drop. Once again, Stephen Bressi fired a shot from the point that ended up getting turned aside by the pad of Cavanaugh. Senior alternate captain Trip Franzese found the rebound and sent it into the open side of the net to bring his team to within one goal. 29 seconds later, Syracuse would tie the game up when junior defenseman Jacob Patalino found a loose puck after an initial shot by Matt Jacobs and sniped it into the top right corner. After tying the game up, Syracuse controlled the pace of the game until NYU struck back with 6:07 remaining, when senior forward John Kowaleski jammed in a rebound after a James Long shot from the point. Syracuse was given one last chance to keep their tournament run alive when NYU’s Frank Horowitz received two minor penalties for hooking and cross checking. With just 8 seconds left on the powerplay and one minute remaining in the period, the Syracuse powerplay unit would come up with a hugely important goal to tie the game up. Senior captain Connor McNamara fired a point-blank shot at the front of the net that was turned to the right side by the pad of Cavanaugh, where Joseph Pucciarelli found the puck and jammed in the rebound to tie the game up at 7-7 and send the teams into 5-on-5 sudden death overtime. “We never had any doubts that we could come back and tie the game and we are better conditioned than them so we weren’t worried about it,” goaltender Michael Cuozzo commented. “We knew we had a chance to win it so we just decided to stick to our game plan going into OT.” The first overtime period saw several good scoring opportunities for both teams, but no goals. 4:08 into the extra time frame, the Orange offense found themselves on a 2-on-1 opportunity and attempted to net a one-time past Cavanaugh, but the goaltender dove across the crease to make the save. About a minute later, NYU set up in the Syracuse zone, but their efforts were stifled by strong defense and solid goaltending by Michael Cuozzo. With 8:28 remaining in the period, head coach Connor Treacy called a timeout to give his team a rest. Then, 1:47 later NYU’s Parker Richards took a minor penalty for boarding, but the Orange were unable to capitalize on the opportunity. After twenty minutes of extra time, the score was still knotted up at seven goals apiece. The game winning goal would finally be delivered by SU junior forward Owen Herrington 7:04 into the second overtime period. “Trip won the draw -- he was a beast in the circle all night -- and Caddo tried to sneak one down to Mac and then there was a bit of a scrum,” Herrington recounts the play. “The puck got thrown on net and the rebound came right out to me and I was able to get a solid backhand on it.” Herrington’s goal completed his team’s fairytale comeback after a grueling 87 minutes of play. “Ton of emotions going on right now, excitement and relief are the main two that come to mind though,” Peter Owen Hayward commented after the game. “When we were down big there was just a sense of disbelief and we refused to accept that that was how our season, and the seniors careers were going to end.” With Friday afternoon’s marathon of a game behind them, the team looked ahead to Saturday’s tilt against Stony Brook in the semifinal of the ESCHL tournament. “We are taking a little time to enjoy it but we gotta turn our focus for stony tomorrow and start preparing for that to make sure we start on time tomorrow,” Owen Herrington said, looking ahead at his team’s matchup with the Seawolves. “[The] gameplan for Stony [Brook] is same as always: work hard, be disciplined and trust our speed and skill to take care of the rest,” alternate captain Peter Owen Hayward explained. Winning Saturday’s game would send the Orange to the ESCHL tournament final, where they would have the opportunity to play for a spot in the ACHA national tournament. The puck drops in West Chester, Pennsylvania, at 8:00 p.m.