In all three years of the program’s existence, the season has finished the same way for Syracuse. It faces Niagara in the first round of the playoffs.

By now, head coach Paul Flanagan and his teams are used to the routine.

‘There are no unknowns,’ Flanagan said of the matchup with Niagara. ‘Sometimes when you watch tape on a team you haven’t played, it’s hard to pick little nuances up. So I think just the fact that we’ve competed means we know each other pretty well.’

Syracuse’s playoff stretch, a stretch that will be started and completed in a matter of three days, begins Friday at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Robert Morris and Wayne State will meet in Thursday’s play-in quarterfinal with the right to take on top-seeded Mercyhurst. Meanwhile, the winner of the Syracuse-Niagara matchup Friday will reach the conference title game Saturday to face the winner of Robert Morris-Wayne State and Mercyhurst.

Winners of its final two regular-season games, Syracuse (13-15-6, 7-6-3 College Hockey America) enters the playoffs perhaps with increased expectations. The four Saturday goals marked SU’s highest scoring output since Jan. 14.

‘That was a good precursor for what to expect now Friday,’ junior forward Megan Skelly said. ‘We definitely have positive energy going in, and we have some confidence because we did beat them both nights.’

Recent momentum aside, the back-to-back victories weren’t enough to leapfrog Niagara in the conference standings, as the Purple Eagles (11-6-5, 8-6-2) will enter the playoffs as the second seed. SU is 2-2 against Niagara this season, so the success of late certainly doesn’t warrant overconfidence.

‘But we also can’t get too confident in our abilities,’ Skelly said. ‘Because, you know, we have to get ready and prepare. Perfect our passes and come together as a team.’

The two schools have split the previous two playoff meetings. As a No. 4 seed in 2009, SU fell to the Purple Eagles 3-2. As a No. 3 seed last year, it won 5-3.

Although Niagara’s stronger playoff seed this season will give them a technical home-ice advantage, Syracuse will be playing in its home building. Something that certainly bodes well for the Orange. Niagara finished this year 4-10-4 on the road (3-4-1 in conference), and the Orange season concluded with an 8-7-3 mark at home (6-2 in conference).

In 2011, the two schools split their four-game season series with each team sweeping the other playing at home. Including the playoffs, SU leads the all-time series by a slim 7-4-2 margin.

‘We’re pretty familiar,’ goaltender Kallie Billadeau said of Niagara. ‘But the main thing we’re focusing on is driving the net and crashing for rebounds. They collapse into their goalie, so they block a lot of shots. Getting a lot of shots on net is our main goal.’

Billadeau, a first-year player who will get her first look at the in-state postseason match up this weekend, finished the season with a 2.87 goals-against average after playing in 20 of the team’s 34 games. Her 541 saves trail her Niagara counterpart, Jenni Bauer, who had 702 saves in eight more games.

Though Syracuse and Niagara are separated by a difference of 165 miles, the two schools are much closer on the ice. Only three wins separate the teams in the all-time series, and they’ve each scored seven total goals in the four games this season.

Friday’s playoff game will be commonplace for two teams that have both been there before. It might come down to which team can throw in a new wrinkle that provides even the slimmest advantage.

‘Well, there’s no secrets between either team,’ Flanagan said. ‘We played each other four times this year and also most recently. They might throw a couple twists from last weekend, but I think we’re pretty evenly balanced. We match up well against each other.’

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Published on March 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm