Schedule Set for Inaugural Ice Hockey Campaign
8/7/2008 4:03:53 PM | Ice Hockey
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse University’s first women’s ice hockey schedule is set. The 2008-09 Orange, led by head coach Paul Flanagan, will play 13 home games at the Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion, four at the Onondaga County War Memorial and 17 games on the road, taking on some of the stiffest competition in the sport. The dates and times of the games scheduled for the War Memorial are still to be determined.
"We are extremely excited about our first schedule," Flanagan said. "I think the schedule lends itself to give us a very early challenge from the very beginning. We will play a couple teams at the beginning like Colgate and Wisconsin, schools that have established hockey programs already. We’ll have to be exceptionally prepared and work really hard right from the get-go."
The Orange will be part of the College Hockey America (CHA) league, which was founded in 1999. SU is the fifth member of the league and will play each of the four conference opponents four times this season. Mercyhurst, Niagara, Robert Morris and Wayne State are the other members.
Syracuse’s historic first game will be played at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., on Wednesday, October 1 at 7 p.m. at the Raiders’ Starr Rink, initiating a seven-game road trip. The Orange will then travel to Madison, Wisc., to battle the Wisconsin Badgers, the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Division I champions. The 2008 Frozen Four finalists will host the Orange for a weekend showdown at the Kohl Center (Oct. 3-4).
"We’ll have a pretty good measuring stick, a good gauge on where we’ll be at three games into the season," Flanagan said. "I feel there’s potential for us to be very competitive and it depends a lot on how well our goaltending holds up or who’s going to score. There are a lot of unknowns, but it’s safe to say we’re going to be a competitive bunch."
SU’s first challenge against CHA competition will be at Robert Morris October 10-11 followed by two games at Qunnipiac on Oct. 17-18.
Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion will get its first taste of Syracuse ice hockey on October 31 at 7 p.m. against Sacred Heart. The Pioneers will stay in town for a second game on November 1. Mercyhurst, CHA’s six-time defending champion, skates into Syracuse on November 14 and 15.
The Orange will venture to the Motor City to take on Wayne State November 21 and 22 at the State Fairgrounds and then will travel to Canada to play at Carleton University at the Ice House and at the University of Ottawa.
The first weekend in December Syracuse will kick off a 10-game conference game strecth, hosting Mercyhurst on December 5 and then playing at Mercyhurst on December 6. Syracuse will challenge Robert Morris on January 9-10 in back-to-back home games and then will play two contests at Niagara on January 17 and 18.
Wayne State will make its first trip to Central New York for games on January 23 and 24 before Niagara visits Tennity to close out SU’s 10-game conference stretch on January 30 and 31. After a two-week break, Syracuse will make another trip to Connecticut on February 13 and 14 to play at Sacred Heart.
St. Anselm’s invades Syracuse for games on Februar 20 and 21 before the Orange closes out the regular season at McGill University on February 24. The CHA Championship Tournament is March 6-8 in Erie, Pa.
