Jackson Kinsler’s dogged play drives SU ice hockey to win over Stonehill
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Jackson Kinsler had to slow down to collect the pass.
Mohawking at the red line, she corralled linemate Emma Gnade’s cross-ice feed. The pass’ velocity slowed off the heel of a Stonehill skater’s stick to the streaking Kinsler.
Kinsler hesitated but not long enough for Reagan Whynot to catch up. The Stonehill defender lunged as Kinsler sped past her. She swiped at the puck, to no avail, as the Syracuse forward cut inside the hashes. Only Skyhawks goalie Alexsa Caron could slow Kinsler, sliding backdoor and turning away Kinsler’s backhand try.
The play was one of two breakaways Syracuse failed to convert Saturday. Did Kinsler want hers back?
“A little bit, a little bit,” she said, laughing. “Had to get onto the next play.”
SU’s breakaways were among Syracuse’s (2-0-0, 0-0-0 Atlantic Hockey America) 61 other shots in its 4-1 win over Stonehill (0-2-0, 0-0-0 New England Women’s Hockey) Saturday. Kinsler scored twice, including the game’s decisive goal two minutes after the Skyhawks evened the Orange.
Kinsler’s goals were the result of both a rebound and deflected shot.
“That’s something we’ve been emphasizing all week long,” she said postgame. “Scoring in small areas. It’s not always going to be the pretty play. I think that was very evident tonight.”
Roll the tape. Aside from its fourth goal — in which Jessica Cheung skated unchallenged into the slot and beat Caron blocker side — Syracuse’s goals Saturday came from two rebounds and a deflected puck that found Kinsler.
It fits the mold head coach Brian Idalski is casting in his first year behind SU’s bench. After Friday’s win over Stonehill, Gnade said the intensity has increased. On Saturday, Kinsler expanded on Syracuse’s emphasis on precision.
“It’s all in our habits,” she said. “We have girls showing up at 8 a.m. every day for skills. We put it all in the details. I think it was a very detailed game.”
It’d be easy, in a game the Orange spent almost entirely in their offensive end, to overlook the contributions of Syracuse’s backcheck, or the role its forecheck played in establishing possession. With Kinsler scoring twice, it’d be easy to overlook her two blocked shots or her play on SU’s penalty kill.
Idalski used the word relentless. So did Kinsler.
“That’s something he’s trying to implement in our game,” she said. “The way that we’re able to grind down teams is with speed and relentlessness, so that was the focus of tonight. Putting them away one shift at a time, one period at a time, and I’m glad we were able to play a full 60 minutes.”
Kinsler’s skating stood out from start to finish, both when open ice sprawled out in front of her and when Stonehill’s defenders crowded her in the corners of the Orange’s offensive zone.
She flew through the neutral zone and cut into the center of the ice to rip a shot on Caron. Stonehill’s defense practically parted as she skated into the slot to shoot.
Below the goal line, she shook Stonehill defenders off her hip, switching between outside and inside edges and playing pucks off the end boards to herself. She flashed creativity, backhanding a no-look pass onto her teammate’s tape in front.
Her first goal, seven minutes into the second period, broke the game’s brief tie. Kerttu Lehmus dished a pass across the dots to Peyton Armstrong, attacking the back post on a two-on-one. Armstrong settled the pass on her backhand and shot the puck off Caron’s far pad. Lehmus was too tight to the goal to finish the rebound, but it ricocheted right to Kinsler, who slapped the puck past Caron.
Kinsler’s second goal, a scant three minutes into the third, came on one knee. Gnade skated out of the far corner and toward the net. Her backhand shot deflected off the stick blade of Stonehill’s defender and slid into Kinsler’s wheelhouse. She buried the puck in the cage.
When the puck wasn’t on her stick, Kinsler’s skating and dogged pursuit caused turnovers as Stonehill transitioned into Syracuse’s zone.
A day after SU finished a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, it killed Stonehill’s only power play. On the kill, Kinsler tracked Spencer Vaccari nearly the length of the ice. At SU’s defensive blue, she angled Vaccari into the boards and separated her from the puck.
“It’s all effort,” Kinsler said.
Idalski hopes it spreads.
“I’ve always appreciated her compete level and the way she’s relentless on pucks,” SU’s head coach said. “So those are assets we’re looking for, and we’re hoping are contagious up and down the lineup.”
