By Ryan Nelson
Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Syracuse Orange (7-9-3) landed in Colorado for their three-in-three weekend against the University of Colorado Buffaloes (1-14-3) and the Colorado State Rams (6-10-1). Syracuse was firing on all cylinders as they put away the Buffaloe 5-2 on the back of a Peter-Owen Hayward hat trick and stellar sophomore performance from Cal Stewart.
The first frame showed why Syracuse’s offense was so potent against Buffalo last weekend. The Orange jumped out to an early lead with two beautiful, top shelf shots from Colin Morrow and Connor Preston, with Zack Gordon and Lucas Prestamo getting assists in the effort as well.
The first period only ended with a score of 2-0 because of the play of the two goalies separated by 200 feet of open ice. Cal Stewart got the nod in net for the second time in his Orange career and, in the first minute, he was tested with a breakaway chance from the Buffaloes that he coldly shut down.
Colorado netminder Grant Payne was the only reason this was not a runaway victory by the Orange from the start. He stopped Peter-Owen Hayward, who was looking for the 100th goal of his career, on not one, not two, but three different first-period breakaways.
The second period had elements that were probably giving Head Coach Conor Treacy déjá-vu. In the first few minutes, Hayward had a chance to give the Orange a three-goal lead. He beat Payne, but not the crossbar. He later had another one-on-one chance with the goalie, but this time the backcheck foiled his opportunity.
It took until 13:29 left in frame number two for the chances to finally show on the scoreboard. Hayward took a feed from Jacob Patalino as he was moving right in the slot; he shot left past the outstretched pad for number 100 of his career and third of the day for Syracuse.
“Individual milestones like that are nice, but I’ve gotta give a huge chunk of the credit to all the great players I’ve played with over the years,” Hayward said of his achievement. “I don’t want to leave anyone out but I’ve got to give a special shoutout to Matt Jacobs and Trip Franzese.”
The Orange would add another late in the period off the stick of Hayward, who backhanded one over the shoulder of the goalkeeper for the 4-0 lead.
The third period was more of the same all over again. For the Orange, Peter-Owen Hayward was knocked to his knees, but that does not stop his hands as he knocked in his third of the game. The Buffaloes did put their first goal past Stewart earlier in the period, but the score still remained 5-1 in favor of Syracuse. Colorado netted another one 18:28 into the third, but it was too little, too late as the Orange triumphed 5-2.
Cal Stewart earned win number two on his career in as many games, stopping 15 of 17 on the night, shutting the Buffaloes out in the first two periods.
Colin Morrow, who kicked off the goal scoring bonanza in the game, has been heating up along with the team as of late. He said the team’s recent success can largely be attributed to growing chemistry.
“I think we’re really starting to gel as a team,” said the junior forward. “We were playing good hockey to start the season off, we just couldn’t ever finish a game.”
The Orange look to make it a four-game winning streak when they faceoff against Colorado on Saturday, January 18, at 10:00 p.m. EST. Tune in to Syracuse’s very own away broadcast at https://www.suhockey.com/about-26 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxocyiCP4wU.
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