If Syracuse ice hockey head coach Paul Flanagan compared SU’s weekend game to boxing, its opponent in Clarkson entered as the journeyman. The Golden Knights were the underdog, having won three games in 10 contests entering Friday. But it played the game, a game it eventually won, as a brawler.

For Flanagan, who told the Orange after its 3-2 upset loss to Clarkson that it needed to size up its opponent before the game like a boxer, his team was beat up.

‘I just told the team, ‘You size up your opponent,” Flanagan said. ‘It’s like you’re a boxer in a ring. You have to look at your opponent, and we didn’t do that until it was too late.’

Friday, Clarkson proved to be the brawler SU didn’t halt until too late. In boxing, the brawler is a slugger — a boxer who lacks mobility and has a predictable punching pattern, but makes up for all that with raw power and the ability to knock out his or her opponents with a single punch. The journeyman is a boxer with good skills but has limitations and little or no expectations of winning a fight.

By the time Syracuse looked up on Friday, the journeyman Clarkson team that SU saw skate onto the ice felt more like a brawler. The Orange dropped a tough match against the smaller, little-brother university from upstate New York. This was no heavyweight championship, but of the two teams, Syracuse was favored, having fared better against several of Clarkson’s previous opponents.

That didn’t matter much to the dozens of Golden Knight friends and family in attendance or to the live band that they brought with them. And it certainly didn’t matter much to the Golden Knights on the ice, who scored three unanswered goals to all but put away the Orange early in the third period.

Three quick scores, much in the vain of the brawler.

‘We just have to recognize, you can’t get outworked,’ Flanagan said. ‘We come back here, and we’re not half of what we played last weekend. It’s pretty frustrating.’

The second period saw the Golden Knights knocking the puck free, getting it off the boards and getting multiple looks on net en route to taking a 14-7 shot margin. When the Orange was trying to play one-on-one, the Golden Knights were throwing numbers. When Syracuse was trying to be smooth, Clarkson was violent. In the first-ever matchup between the two schools, the Golden Eagles landed the first blow in what now looks to be a competitive series.

The Orange will go on the road for the second half of a home-and-home set with the Golden Knights this Friday.

‘They don’t quit, ever,’ SU goalkeeper Kallie Billadeau said. ‘They might not be the most skilled girls, but they just worked so hard. They battle. And we have to be ready for that, we can’t just dangle around them. We have to fight as hard, and harder than they are.’

Although Syracuse was able to score first, Clarkson’s methodical attack produced the decisive goals. The Golden Knights eventually found the net off a stick deflection late in the second period and again during the final seconds of a 5-on-3 power play. Clarkson won its third straight game to improve its record to 4-6-1.

And SU fell below .500 to 4-5-1. Syracuse has previously skated around New Hampshire. It has been outlasted by Boston College and Providence. It has pounded Union College. And Friday, SU was humbled by Clarkson.

Each week is a separate fight, and Syracuse is learning a lot about the sweet science to competing week in and week out.

‘The beauty now of being able to size up your opponent — we know them. And we should know what to expect,’ Flanagan said. ‘You’re not going to beat that team unless you at least match their work ethic.’

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Published on November 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm