Elite passer Sarah Marchand emerges as top scorer for Syracuse

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Syracuse already had a two-goal advantage against RIT in the third period when Tiger forward Lindsay Maloney was called for interference. The Orange sent out their top power-play unit, which includes forwards Lauren Bellefontaine, Abby Moloughney and Sarah Marchand.

SU set up its usual offensive formation, which Marchand calls the “reverse umbrella.” Moloughney and Bellefontaine usually move to opposite faceoff circles while Marchand skates behind the net to fight for the puck on the boards.

But on this power play, Marchand faced no pressure as she collected the puck near the boards. Two RIT players were in the passing lane, but Marchand found room to find Moloughney, who buried the puck to make the final score 3-0.

“(Marchand) passes really well into space,” Moloughney said. “It might not be right on the stick, but it’s somewhere where you can easily take a shot from.”

In her freshman season at Syracuse, Marchand has established herself as one of the team’s best passers. She leads the Orange with 15 assists and is tied for fifth-most in the College Hockey America conference. Earlier in the year, Syracuse’s coaches said Marchand was guilty of passing too much and not having a shooting mentality. It took Marchand nine games to score her first career goal when she finally scored against Lindenwood on Oct. 23. Since then, Marchand has combined both assets of her game, scoring the team’s second-most points since the start of December.

“I still think she has that pass-first mentality, but she’s improving,” Syracuse head coach Paul Flanagan said. “We’re trying to get her to (have something) that is sometimes called a ‘gunslinger’s mentality.’”

This adjustment is similar to what Marchand has experienced throughout her junior career. Those who coached her before Syracuse knew her as a forward who was an elite scorer with solid attributes.

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For the first seven years of her hockey career, Marchand never played on an all-girls team, exclusively playing on and against boys teams. Kevin Beuglet, Marchand’s junior coach until she was 16 years old, said being a part of a boys team rather than an all-girls team was massive for the young forward’s development.

“She played (with) the boys because that’s where she was comfortable and that’s where her friends were,” said John Marchand, her father. “It was where she had fun, and we knew it was good for her development.”

Beuglet noted that the speed and the physicality of the boys’ game helped Marchand get used to playing a system that emphasized puck movement. John said that her vision on the ice was influenced by her team’s ability to pass and shoot at the right time. In this system, Marchand became one of the best passers on the team, using her vision to separate her from other players on the team when it comes to passing.

“What makes Sarah so good is how well she sees the ice,” Beuglet said. “She sees the opposing players and her own players … so well offensively and defensively that she makes adjustments as she skates down the ice.”

Beuglet remembered when Marchand and her team were playing in the fifth game championship of their local league. The game went to overtime, and Marchand made the assist on the game-winning goal to Beuglet’s son.

But according to John, his daughter was not always a natural passer. Unlike at Syracuse, Marchand never felt the need to pass up a shooting opportunity when she played with boys teams, but since Marchand is a freshman now, she feels more inclined to pass to her senior teammates, Beuglet said. Marchand was always a “top three or four scorer” on those junior teams, recording as many goals as she did assists. Her goal-scoring prowess came from her pinpoint shooting accuracy, Beuglet said, with her shots being as hard as some of the boys’ on her team.

This gave Marchand an edge as she finally moved to exclusively play on girls’ teams. Marchand made the switch by playing for Chatham Outlaws for two seasons and the Cambridge Rivulettes for one season. John said that when she started playing on girls’ teams she was always “the best player on the ice.”

In 2019-20 with the Southwest Wildcats, Marchand finished second on the team in points with 30, scoring 13 goals and tallying 17 assists. Southwest’s head coach, Jennifer Hitchcock, said Marchand used her skills to create good on-ice connections with her teammates. Beuglet said that when Marchand played against other girls, her hockey sense was much higher than her teammates, which only helped the team.

“She was affecting them to be places they didn’t even know they were supposed to be,” Beuglet said.

At Syracuse, however, Beuglet’s observation has held true as Marchand passed up on opportunities to score early in the season. Against Union, Marchand made multiple dekes to keep Syracuse’s attack alive but eventually passed the puck to a teammate. In a two-minute span, she passed off twice and neither of those shots became goals.

“All she wanted to do was pass, pass, pass, and she didn’t have a goal for a while,” Flanagan said.

While Flanagan still thinks there is improvement to be made, Marchand has definitely found the net more. Since the start of December, Marchand has shot 33 of her season total of 55 shots.

In the final minute of overtime against Penn State on Feb. 5, Marchand retrieved the puck in the neutral zone after Mae Batherson battled for it at the boards. A two-on-one had been generated as Marchand had Victoria Klimek flanking her on the left.

Marchand never passed to the graduate student, holding the puck as she moved toward the right faceoff circle where she fired a quick shot that beat Nittany Lions goaltender Josie Bothun.

“She can put the puck in the net,” Beuglet said. “And as she gets older and continues to play for Syracuse, you’re going to see her put the puck in the net a lot.”