Three years ago, Sarah Knee watched her teammate Jillian Sauliner get honored as the Cornell women's only senior. As a young freshman, she couldn't have possibly been thinking of her own senior day. Three seasons, three playoff appearances, and a slew of new teammates later and suddenly today was her day to be honored. Knee stood next to her fellow seniors, Brianna Veerman and Erin O'Connor, as they heard their names called at Lynah Rink for potentially the last time. In a moment of respect, head coach Doug Derraugh started Knee and O'Connor together to open the game, not a common occurrence. Knee, who plays as a defenseman, isn't usually focused on scoring goals, but today she was motivated, aggressively taking shot after shot. While she didn't score, she was credited with two assists, including one on Grace Graham's goal that would be the first of 6 that would propel Cornell over Brown University.
If you just looked at the scoreboard, it would just look business as usual for Cornell. While they were dominating, especially in their five-goal second period, there was a different vibe on the ice. Maybe it was out of respect, maybe it was just a coincidence, but those three seniors were given every opportunity to get their moment on their day. While Knee was the only one to put a point on the board, it was refreshing to see such teamwork. These are the little things in a season that bring teams together. Veerman, Knee, and O'Connor will remember this day during the next few weeks as this #6 ranked Women's Ice Hockey team pushes towards the end of the season. The best way however to send off these seniors will be by making a long playoff run. That's the goal for any season, but maybe a day like today we'll provide a little more motivation to push even further.