Dan Hardy loves to hide behind the cage and watch everyone around him. That way, the Syracuse attackman can immediately see if a teammate is open. If not, Hardy will take matters into his own hands and try to use his 6-foot-5 size to bully his way toward the cage.

Hardy, the sophomore attackman, proved to be valuable when he made assists to Kenny Nims and Max Bartig. But it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Hardy carried the Orange at a time when it needed him the most.

Hardy scored two of his three goals in the final 5:49 of SU’s 13-11 season-opening win over Hobart in front of 5,252 fans at the Carrier Dome on Sunday. The victory makes up for Syracuse’s one-point loss to the Statesmen last year, which ended a 20-year winning streak in which the Orange won the Kraus-Simmons Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the game’s winner each year.

Hardy’s play helped Syracuse (1-0) score four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter in the last 14 minutes of the game. Before Hardy’s outbreak, Syracuse trailed for most of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth despite holding a 6-5 lead at halftime.

‘I kind of felt like (I could take over) the whole game,’ Hardy said. ‘I just never took advantage of it. At the end of the game, I didn’t really want to start off like last year so I decided somebody has to step up and go to the goal.’

Hardy did that when he found Nims inside, allowing him to brush his way toward the cage to cut Hobart’s lead to 11-10 with 12:16 left in the game. At the 5:49 mark, Hardy scored unassisted and did the same one minute and 28 seconds later. But Hardy wasn’t the only one to make key plays. SU midfielder Pat Perritt also tallied a hat trick and attackman Mike Leveille and midfielder Steven Brooks scored two goals apiece.

Hobart got off to a hot start when attackman Nick Currie, who scored last year’s game-winning goal against the Orange, stormed toward the cage seconds after Hobart won the opening faceoff. Hobart jumped to a 3-2 lead when Syracuse failed to get back on unsettled situations minutes later. In total, Hobart’s Daryl Veltman, Jeff Colburn, Jamie Kirk and Sean Murphy each scored two goals.

‘It was extremely sloppy,’ SU head coach John Desko said of the game. ‘In the first half with decisions clearing the ball and throwing the ball away, those are all potential offensive possessions and a chance to score at the other end. We turned around and gave it back to Hobart. We played a lot of defense as a result.’

SU senior defenseman Steve Panarelli told his defense that if Syracuse loses, it is their fault. That’s because he thought Hardy and the rest of Syracuse’s offense held their end of the bargain. The defense started fulfilling its role when Panarelli made the switch to pole and Evan Brady played at close defense in the fourth quarter, which Desko thought resulted in Panarelli making smarter decisions and leading the Orange’s transition offense more effectively. SU defense also became used to Hobart’s style of offense, which was based on screens.

SU goalie Pete Coluccini had what Desko said was an ‘up and down game.’ But he made 13 saves, many of them using his stick. That prevented Hobart from getting a rebound that would’ve been possible if Coluccini used his body more.

The contest also resembled last year’s game where Syracuse’s offense struggled to find the back of the net as Hobart goalie Brandon Baer made 15 saves. After Currie made the first goal, Syracuse took two minutes in trying to score a goal but to no avail.

‘We were trying to force things,’ Perritt said. ‘We have so much talent on this team that I think everybody wants to make a play. Everybody realizes what kind of talent they have. I think we need to work more into our offense. We have to let the offense take over and not let ‘us’ try to take over.’

Through the bumps and bruises, Desko liked that Syracuse had to go through a humbling experience in its season-opener to grab the victory.

‘It’s great that we had to work so hard to get the win,’ Desko said. ‘It’s great that we had to come from behind as far as game situations and preparing us for the future. To suck it in the fourth period with under seven minutes to go, we took charge.’

Published on February 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm