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Mercyhurst forward Thea Johansson bruised a hat trick to defeat Syracuse 5-3 on Feb. 14, snapping the Orange’s five-game winning streak. While the contest was tied at 2-2 entering the third period, the Lakers scored three goals in the final frame, including two from Johansson, to break away.
It was scheduled to be the last time Syracuse faced Johansson and the Lakers this season.
But as the Atlantic Hockey America playoff bracket unfolded, SU’s road led back through Erie, Pennsylvania, in the semifinals. Nonetheless, the Orange and the Lakers split the first two games with Johansson staying relatively quiet. When the final horn sounded, it concluded with an all-too-familiar ending.
Johansson scored a hat-trick, including an empty-netter with one minute remaining, to guide Mercyhurst (20-15-2, 13-16-1 AHA) to a 5-2 win over Syracuse (15-23, 11-9 AHA) in Game 3 of the AHA Semifinals. Johansson had three goals on a game-high nine total shots, bringing her tally to six goals against SU this year. With the win, the Lakers advance to the AHA Championship, while Syracuse’s season is over.
“(Johansson) is really developing into an awesome leader,” Mercyhurst head coach Mike Sisti told MU Athletics postgame. “She plays hard and had a great weekend. Today, the three goals were awesome.”
Johansson had her fingerprints all over the game from the first period. While Heidi Knoll gave the Orange an early 1-0 lead five minutes in, Johannson and the Lakers stole the momentum 10 minutes into the first.
While SU was on the power play, Johansson made a crucial poke check on Nea Tervonen, causing a turnover in the defensive zone. Johansson bolted into the neutral zone and Julia Schalin, who finished the afternoon with three points, fed her the puck. In a one-on-one with Syracuse goalie Allie Kelley, Johansson ripped the puck into the bottom-right corner. Her third shorthanded goal of the season, the second-best mark in Division I, leveled the game.
She continued to pester Kelley and the Orange late in the first period. Syracuse committed two penalties in the final two minutes of the first period, leaving it out to dry on a five-on-three. She had a tip-in narrowly saved by Kelley with 33 seconds left, and blasted a slapshot that was acrobatically gloved by Kelley 11 seconds before intermission.
As the power play carried over to the second period, Johansson’s heroics gave the Lakers the lead.
Megan McKay launched a pass into the slot that hit a cluster of bodies and fell kindly for Johansson. She had her first shot blocked but fired the rebound past Kelley, putting Mercyhurst up a goal less than a minute into the second. Again, Johansson made the Orange pay on special teams.
She had another opportunity late in the seconds, dangling through SU’s defense before firing a wrister Kelley ushered aside with her left pad. Johansson had nine shots through the first two periods, eight of which were on goal.
Both teams exchanged goals throughout the next half hour, with Jessica Cheung pulling Syracuse level late in the second and Schalin breaking the tie for the Lakers halfway through the third.
When Mercyhurst needed someone to put the game away, they again turned to Johansson. With Kelley out of the Orange’s net in favor of an extra attacker, Johansson recovered the puck in the neutral zone and sniped it into the unattended cage. Another empty-netter from Schalin further solidified the final.
Just two weekends ago, Johansson sent Syracuse packing with an empty-netter to secure herself a hat trick and secure the Lakers a win. Between her Feb. 14 performance and game three of the conference semifinals on Sunday, SU picked up three straight wins, two of which were against the Lakers, seemingly rewriting the losing narratives around its rivalry with Mercyhurst.
But in the biggest game the Orange have played in head coach Britni Smith’s three-year tenure, Johansson again was the villain. Instead of fully avenging its persistent struggles against the Lakers, Syracuse will be left with a seven-month offseason before it’ll have another chance to beat Johansson and Mercyhurst.
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