New York, NY -- Maybe it was in their smiles, or perhaps their hugs. Maybe it was the on-ice dance to the Jackson 5 hit "ABC."
Whatever the expression, it was easy to see that the NYU's ice hoceky players were enjoying themselves after Sunday night's 6-4 win over the Villanova University Wildcats at Chelsea Pier to close out the regular season.
The Violets looked relaxed, because they didn't have much to lose. After already making both the league playoffs and nationals, they were playing against a team they defeated 13-3 earlier in the season. The Violets turned the contest into an opportunity to give bench players more ice time.
"I was glad we could get everyone on the ice," Coach Lloyd Polanish said. "It was a fun game."
Among the players that got to fill in on the ice were goalies Steele Filipek and Joshua Rosenthal, who played two periods and one period, respectively.
The only blunder by either backup goaltender occurred about midway through the third period.
As the puck came down the ice, Rosenthal mishandled his stick and accidentally knocked the puck towards his goal.
At the last moment, as the team and crowd shoutd, "No," he dove and kept the puck out of the net. Later on, he as able to laugh at the mishap.
"I'm just trying to keep my GAA [goals against average] lower than my GPA," Rosenthal said.
The game as also special for seniors Brian Gilmore and Captain Dan Nemchek, who played the last regular-season game of their college careers. Gilmore scored twice.
"It feels good to go out on top," Gilmore said.
In the end, the game meant less about winning than it did about fine-tuning for the playoffs.
"Today's game as nice because players like Steele and Josh got played," Nemchek said. "We just had a lot of fun out there. But our number one goal is [to win] nationals."
The Violets will compete in the Super East Conference Playoffs this weekend in Newburgh, N.Y.