It took 19 seconds for Syracuse to record its first shot on goal Friday night. In that sequence, a symbol emerged of what could be the young hockey program’s inaugural motto: Who has time to wait?

Patience isn’t a virtue of head coach Paul Flanagan, whose postgame speech lasted in excess of 20 minutes Friday night, after SU’s 3-0 win against St. Anselm. Perhaps his team’s focus got lost in the 5,000 square foot training facility and locker room recently opened up adjacent to the Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion. Perhaps three-goal shutouts aren’t up to Flanagan’s Frozen Four standards.

Or perhaps he forgot what he was saying in October. ‘There are no expectations other than to be competitive and to get better,’ Flanagan told The Daily Orange then. Now, the blooming of the Syracuse hockey team bears the burden of being suddenly competitive.

Is there so much satisfaction in seeing opponents’ laughter quickly fading in their throats? Only when every game is a battle against programs with far more ice time under their skates. Here, a fledgling program has done more than rattle the nets of the College Hockey America conference’s establishment.

‘It looks like the program’s getting better every week, and it’s just good to see,’ Mercyhurst head coach Michael Sisti said. ‘They’ve come a long way.’

The program’s launching nears its five-month anniversary, supplemented by baby steps that have quickly ascended into leaps and bounds. After losing its first six games, it has won six in a row. It heads into the CHA tournament in a week with intentions of winning more.

And, in judging this 9-15-3 team, progression has no context. There are no comparisons to make. How does one assess the development of a program that, five months ago, didn’t know if it would have enough hockey pucks for practice?

‘We could’ve been the worst team that ever was,’ senior Rachel Tilford said.

It took one game for Flanagan to realize he could throw away his preconceptions of this being an experimental season. On the bus ride back from Colgate, a 4-3 loss Oct. 1 that featured an SU goal nine seconds into its inaugural match, he felt confident for the first time (and not the last).

It built from there, out in Wisconsin, when Syracuse found itself in the cavernous Kohl Center – and found its proverbial self, too, while skating to a 1-0 deficit with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

‘I started to get a sense, you know what, if we can hang in there with this team, we can play with anybody,’ Flanagan said. ‘So I think these girls started to believe that.’

Illusions of grandeur – or maybe some omens for a hopeful head coach, one who jumped from a Frozen Four regular to start a program based on the potential (and, seemingly, the means) to mold as he pleases. It’s not like Central New York and hockey aren’t complementary. Look to the east, there’s Colgate, 14th in the national power rankings. To the south, Cornell, with 37 years and 363 wins under its belt.

To the west, in Erie, Pa., Mercyhurst is 25-5 and ranked third in the nation out of the CHA. But its head coach hasn’t failed to take note of its new league mate.

Sisti was once a top candidate to become Syracuse’s head coach. He turned down a lucrative offer two summers ago. Now his team, the top seed in next week’s conference tournament, will likely play SU, if the Orange can advance past Niagara (who they’ve defeated twice) in the play-in round.

‘It’s good for women’s hockey,’ Sisti said. ‘We need more teams to get started. And obviously Syracuse has great name power.’

‘It’s definitely a program that I think is going to be very successful down the road,’ Wayne State head coach Jim Fetter said. ‘They have the resources, they have the name, they’re definitely committed to their athletic programs. And with (Flanagan) there, they’re definitely in very good hands, and I think they’re moving in the right direction.’

With a veteran head coach at the helm, direction was always a given. Pace wasn’t. On Friday, even Flanagan needed a moment to catch up on a whirlwind first tour.

There has not been much time for Flanagan to reflect, after 27 games, the building of a new facility, the active recruiting of new players and the overseeing of a program still feeling its way through the dark. There hasn’t been much time for leniency, either.

It was a long postgame speech after an unacceptable performance Friday night, a showing that Flanagan took as one of the worst of the year. It was another win, sure, but this season can’t be measured by standings. It can be seen as another teaching moment in a season full of chalkboard lessons.

Can nine wins (and counting) be considered a success? Only when you take into account where it could’ve been.

And then, with the omens, it’s a sure sign of where SU hockey is headed.

‘I still remember the first practice and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh. What are we going to do here?” Flanagan said. ‘We’ve come a long way.’

Zach Schonbrun is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear every Wednesday. He can be reached at zsschonb@syr.edu.

Published on February 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm