Syracuse made it’s first NCAA tournament, that’s what happened.

To be fair, this isn’t the biggest of upsets.  Outside of their goaltending, SU was an okay team.  They went 10-8-2 in the conference and finished a respectable third.  They even beat this Robert Morris team the first time they played in the regular season.

But Syracuse’s 6-2 Finals win, and their run through the CHA tournament was just bizarre.

The big story is the goaltending.  SU’s goaltending was downright brutal during the season.  They were the worst team in the country by a wide margin.  Senior Maddi Welch turned in an .874 save percentage, and Junior Ady Cohen wasn’t much better at .880.  They started the playoffs with Welch in net against Lindenwood and she turned in a perfectly respectable effort saving 11 shots and allowing 1 goal while SU largely stifled the Lions.

Then they decided to turn to Cohen, who did have the better play against Mercyhurst during the regular season.  Still, switching goaltenders amid a playoff run, especially after your first starter allowed just one goal, is a little weird.  Cohen proved up to the task, allowing 3 goals on 31 Merchurst shots and the SU skaters did their job, scoring four.

It was Welch who got the 3-2 overtime win against Robert Morris in the regular season.  Cohen gave up 4 goals on 18 shots and was yanked for Welch in her only start against the Colonials.  Still, the Orange coaching staff opted to go with Cohen for reasons that sure make sense now.  She turned in her best performance of the season, allowing just 2 goals on 29 shots, the second of which in garbage time with the Orange running out the clock on a 5-1 lead.

In hindsight, playing three games in three days is unusual in hockey, and splitting the goaltending duties probably makes sense.  But that wasn’t where the weirdness ended.

The Orange’s leading scorers during the regular season were defender Allie Munroe and forward Brooke Avery.  They finished tied for 5th and tied for 8th on the Orange in points this series.  Avery had no points through the first two games before netting a goal and an assist against Robert Morris.

The Orange’s leading scorer in the tournament was Anonda Hoppner who had 2g and 3a.  She had just 8g and 4a in the regular season and was 8th on the team in scoring.  Following her were forwards Abby Moloughny (3rd) and Lauren Bellefontaine (5th), and defender Lindsay Eastwood (9th).  Speaking of Eastwood, she delivered the rare defender hat trick against Mercyhurst (weird!), and right now has a stat line of 9g and 5a.  As a defender.  (WEIRD!)

The entire bottom half of the Orange’s roster seemed to pile it on in the final as their 10th, 10th, 10th, 13th, and 16th ranked scorers in the regular season all had points.  Kristen Siermachesky added just her second goal and third point of the season.  And it wasn’t garbage time scoring either, it was the go-ahead second goal for the Orange scored partway through the second period.

Also, I forgot Lindsay Eastwood is enormous.  Elizabeth Giguère there to the right is listed at 5-10.

Photo Credit: Me
Lindsay Eastwood (#4) and Elizabeth Giguère (#7)