In the opening five minutes, Syracuse appeared slowed by the emotion of the occasion. Skating onto the ice at Tennity Ice Pavilion for the last game with seniors and captains Holly Carrie-Mattimoe and Jacquie Greco, the Orange played energized, but uncontrolled.

But before the six-minute mark, Kaillie Goodnough ripped a slapshot from inside the left corner of the zone. When the puck rebounded and trickled across the crease, Sadie St. Germain pounced to put SU ahead.

Determined, SU took hold en route to a 4-1 victory in front of 115 on Senior Night. SU’s (19-14-1, 13-6-1 College Hockey America) inability to bag a second goal briefly brought back unsettling anxiety before the Orange outpassed, outshot and outplayed the visiting Lions (7-24-3, 7-10-3 CHA), sending the seniors out in style and getting both of their names on the score sheet.

“I feel like the whole game was almost a dream,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “It’s exciting obviously, but also it’s really sad to play the last game, so I can’t really remember – I was seriously in a haze the whole game.”

She did, however, remember the matchup’s decisive sequence.

On the power play, Brittney Krebs worked the puck to Cara Johnson on the bleacher-side boards. Johnson passed to Carrie-Mattimoe in the left corner. She crossed to Shiann Darkangelo, lurking on the crease. The sophomore forward buried her chance to restore the SU lead 2-1.

Darkangelo’s tally made the game SU’s, and ensured the Orange would use the ribbons and balloons that littered the locker room pre-game.

The Orange controlled the first period after St. Germain’s opener, but by the midway point of the second period, the Lions were running the show. Regardless of whom SU head coach Paul Flanagan sent out, LU dug in and scrapped SU back into its own half.

After Julie Knerr’s wraparound pass went unfinished, LU’s Caitlyn Post split the ice, breaking past Johnson and shooting into Billadeau. Kendra Broad put the rebound in top shelf to tie the game at one.

“We’ve had a problem all year playing 60 minutes, and I think it showed in the second period,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “But I think we got our focus back going into the third knowing we had to come out with a win.”

With each of her teammates coming out of the locker room wearing “15” and “7” written in marker on their wrists, Carrie-Mattimoe led the Orange onto the ice for the third period. In her haze, she circled to her left toward her own goal, then peeled back to her right wobbling her head back and forth. Joined by her teammates at the blue line, she loosened into a dance.

Six minutes later, she was celebrating Greco’s goal. Family and friends exploded off of the bleachers and onto the glass.

Less than 10 minutes later, Darkangelo made good on a Senior Night promise to return the favor of her early goal to Carrie-Mattimoe. She squared the puck for the senior at the left circle, and the forward sniped her wrist shot in the high left-hand corner.

“For these seniors … we’ve got a little bit of tradition of passing the torch with our leadership,” Flanagan said. “We’ve finally had some kids that have been here for four years and they’ve learned.”

At about 9:15 p.m., the ice was empty for Carrie-Mattimoe and Greco. With Carrie-Mattimoe under her right arm, Greco raised her stick, bearing Carrie-Mattimoe’s No. 7 on her own wrist to the crowd. Carrie-Mattimoe did the same with her right hand, and they both absorbed the cheers and applause before walking off of the Tennity ice together for the last time.

They’ll practice again there for the next week and a half ahead of the CHA semifinals, but the building won’t look the same.

“No, not at all,” a watery-eyed Carrie-Mattimoe said. “ … It’s really different to think about being game day and being practice. I definitely will miss that. I’ll miss the atmosphere in the locker room before games. I’m going to miss a lot of things about having game days here.”

Published on February 28, 2013 at 1:35 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_