Spring Break
The Daily OrangeAssembly required
In three months, Paul Flanagan found 19 players to make up Syracuse's first-ever women's ice hockey team
By Jeff Westfall
Posted: 9/30/08, 11:13 PM EST Section: Sports
|
Beneath a newly raised Syracuse Ice Hockey banner, SU head coach Paul Flanagan gathered his team around a whiteboard. He was drawing up plans, a blueprint for Syracuse's first ever ice hockey team.
He hasn't had much time to come up with that blueprint. After being hired as head coach, Flanagan had three months to assemble the inaugural SU women's ice hockey team. The 19 players that sit in front of him are a ragtag bunch - a mixture of unheralded high school recruits and college transfers.
It's not an ideal situation, but it's one Flanagan will have to live with for this season. Syracuse ice hockey's inaugural campaign begins tonight, when Syracuse travels to Colgate to play the Red Raiders at 7 p.m.
"The typical blueprint is hire a coach, hire assistants, and you have a whole year to build a team," Flanagan said. "But they made a commitment here that they wanted to field a team in September.
"It is something I probably look back at it and say 'What the hell was I thinking?' You almost say I can't do that, but when you jump in with both feet, you just do it."
On April 1, Flanagan was officially named head coach of the first SU women's ice hockey team, leaving behind an impressive career at St. Lawrence that included five Frozen Four appearances during his nine-year tenure.
Flanagan then had the task of assembling a team that could be competitive in just three months. There is no guide to creating a complex hockey team from scratch. Flanagan said it was unlike any challenge he had faced in his coaching career.
"There is only a certain group of players out there anyway," Flanagan said. "And in April most of the girls out of high school had committed, and we had to find that kid who was still out there who didn't get a scholarship anywhere and was probably going to go to prep school or they were looking at Division III schools."
***
One of Flanagan's first tasks was to find a young foundation to build his team around. Nearly half of the Syracuse's roster this season (nine of 19 players) is freshmen. With the majority of elite high school talent already committed to schools by early April, Flanagan had to search for the unconventional recruit.
He began by tapping into his ties within the fraternity of hockey coaches to help evaluate talent. He inquired about players who needed development or players who were considering Division III hockey. Flanagan then worked the phones, selling the university and the newly established hockey culture at Syracuse.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Susan Silliman Smith
posted 10/01/08 @ 5:50 PM EST
The girls and the coach are brave to begin a new sport at SU and more power to them. With a creative coach as Coach Flanagan the Orange should be allright but may not win them all, hopefully they will win some and won't get too tired. (Continued…)
Post a Comment