It was a little shove on that re-ignited Syracuse’s offense, delivered from Cornell’s Brandon Salvatore to SU’s Brendan Bomberry. It looked like normal jockeying around the crease on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome, but seconds later Bomberry was standing over Salvatore being restrained by fellow attack Nate Solomon amid a shoving mass of orange and red and white-and-black stripes.

Moments earlier, trailing 4-2 with 4:09 to go in the first quarter, Bomberry had attempted to scoop up a rebound when CU goalie Christian Knight bowled Bomberry over with a Superman lunge as Salvatore shoved him too. The hit incited a near-brawl and a run that gave the Orange a lead it wouldn’t relinquish in its 15-8 victory.

Syracuse and Cornell opened Atlantic Coast Conference sportsmanship week by playing each team’s most-whistled game of the year, combining for 13 penalties totaling 12 minutes. In explanation, sophomore attack Nate Solomon shrugged and simply said, “They’re our in-state rival.”

No. 1 Syracuse (9-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) went on a 10-goal run to pulverize unranked Cornell (3-7, 2-2 Ivy) in its first game as the nation’s top-ranked team. The Orange survived seven penalties for 6:30 to avenge its 10-9 overtime loss at Cornell last season.

“We’ve got to get Cornell back for last year,” SU senior defender Scott Firman said before the season. “I never really liked them. My brother played Colgate hockey, so we grew up with a hate for Cornell.”

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

The win also signified the program’s best 10-game season start since 2011. Syracuse senior attack Jordan Evans (five points) and redshirt freshman attack Stephen Rehfuss (four) led Syracuse in the blowout.

On the possession before the hit on Bomberry, Cornell’s freshman star Jeff Teat dished out his fourth assist of the first quarter and opened up a 4-2 lead. CU had won three of its past four games and the country’s No. 1 team had lost in six straight weeks. The upset seemed possible. “We can play with these guys all day!” Cornell’s associate head coach Peter Milliman yelled at his team coming off the field.

The Big Red didn’t score again for 27 minutes.

After the hit, with Syracuse on a 30-second man up, a Sergio Salcido pass found Bomberry alone by the crease and the junior cashed in from his favorite spot on the field to pull SU within one. Bomberry nodded to the sideline, where Salvatore looked at the ground.

Bomberry was not made available to the media postgame.

“We were very anxious to start,” SU head coach John Desko said. “The man-up slowed us down and we got it fairly quickly. … Cornell came out and really competed. It was a good win for us tonight.”

After a nine-minute lull, Evans scored by himself when he dizzied Cornell’s Walt Gahagan and beat Knight to his right side. The Orange offense exploded for three more unanswered goals in the last 1:59 of the first half — including another one from Evans — and wrested back control to take a 7-4 lead into halftime.

Syracuse senior faceoff specialist Ben Williams, mired in a career-worst season at the X, did not let up on CU freshman Paul Rasimowicz. Williams won the first four second-half faceoffs and Syracuse scored off each of them.

Between 1:59 in the second quarter and 11:29 in the third, there were six possessions. Williams won every one for the Orange and his teammates cashed in every time.

“Cornell got tired,” Evans said.

Three minutes later, Bomberry and redshirt freshman attack Stephen Rehfuss finished the 10-goal barrage and Cornell’s chances for an upset. When Colton Rupp snapped the Big Red’s goal drought about a minute later, the CU fan section golf-clapped. Only one young boy bothered to stand up.

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

Late in the third quarter, an illegal body check from Cornell’s best defender stirred tension that had lie dormant since the Bomberry hit. It was the sixth of 13 penalties. Even after the game had ended, referees hit SU reserve midfielder Devon Sullivan with a minute-long unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“I didn’t think it was that chippy, to be honest. It’s Cornell and Syracuse,” Big Red head coach Matt Kerwick said of the rivalry in its 102nd edition on Tuesday. “Thirteen penalties? Back in the day, that would’ve been nothing.”

In the third quarter, as the game grew more futile and Syracuse maintained its eight-goal lead as the clock ticked away, the more the whistles blew. Referees assessed Bomberry two penalties, unsportsmanlike conduct and cross-check, each a minute-long early in the fourth quarter after he fought with Cornell defender Marshall Peters. On the sideline, Desko became red in the face as he spoke to his twice-whistled attack.

Desko put in his reserves and got the same returns. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Ford, mere seconds into his fourth game this season, got blindsided with a vicious shoulder from Cornell’s goalie Knight. Ford had also cross-checked one of Knight’s teammates seconds before. Both went to the sidelines with penalties.

As Knight walked off the field, message delivered, Bomberry followed the goalie’s walk all the way back to the sideline.

Published on April 11, 2017 at 10:53 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR