Although SUNYACs were out of the picture, the Ice Knights came out skating hard for their last two games of the season, finishing the weekend with an unblemished 2-0 record after victories against both Brockport and Lebanon Valley.
The Knights started out strong in both games. In Friday's contest against Brockport they gained a quick 2-0 lead, with both goals coming from junior Casey Balog. The first goal was unassisted while the second came with assists from senior Ram Sidhu and junior Brandon French.
The Knights continued to skate strong while freshman Daniel Sullivan tallied the lone goal of the second period to rocket the Knights out to a 3-0 lead.
Brockport scored their lone goal in the third to cut the lead to 3-1, but freshman Andrew Rygiel netted an insurance goal in the waning seconds of the final stanza, making the final 4-1.
The Ice Knights continued their winning ways on Saturday night, taking out Lebanon Valley en route to a 4-2 victory in the team's season finale. A pair of defensemen opened senior night with two goals in the first. Freshman Allan Charbonneau and senior Steve Sankey found the net early to jump out to a strong 2-0 lead. Lebanon Valley quickly netted a goal with three minutes left in the first period to cut the deficit down to one at the first intermission.
Both teams skated hard while momentum shifted back and forth in the second period, but it ended scoreless as neither team could connect, and the score remained 2-1. The third period saw more scoring as senior Mathieu Cyr tallied 12 minutes in to reclaim the two-goal lead. The Dutchmen netted one with just over four minutes left to cut the lead back down to one, but could get no closer before Sidhu locked up the victory with only four seconds left by scoring an empty-netter.
Senior goalie Derek Jokic looked solid in both games, posting save counts of 28 and 27.
Head coach Chris Schultz stressed that he hoped the weekend would be all about the seniors and that the team would come into the weekend playing for them.
"It was fitting that each senior scored a goal in their final game," he said.
When asked how he felt about the season as a whole, it was obvious that Schultz was disappointed in not making the playoffs. With three conference overtime losses, and nine one-goal losses, the season was a real rollercoaster ride for the Ice Knights.
However, the coach remained optimistic about the future.
"The great thing this year is the fact that everyone learned something about themselves," said Schultz. "They battled through adversity and very frustrating times, but in the end, we came out a team. That is the most important piece."
The Ice Knights closed out the season with an 8-17 record overall and a 6-10 record in the SUNYAC.