Ice Hockey Goes into November Slate after Award-Filled October
By Chilekasi Adele
CitrusTV Ice Hockey Beat Reporter
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (CitrusTV) – The CHA is only a five-team league. Acknowledging that, Syracuse Ice Hockey has continued to rake in the awards during the first month of the 2021-22 season.
Earlier this week, Syracuse Defenseman Jessica DiGirolamo was named CHA Defenseman of the Month for September and October.
This comes after the Mississauga, Ontario native was given the CHA Defenseman of the Week award in back-to-back weeks during the month of October. During the past month, DiGirolamo blocked a total of 23 shots — while also scoring two goals and providing assists to her teammates twice as well. As of Oct. 28, the defenseman has 44 shots on goal, which puts her in first in the CHA.
The Grad Student is eighth all-time in the CHA in assists by a defenseman with 50. In addition, she’s the record holder for goals among SU defensemen, and tied for eighth in assists and tenth in career points among Syracuse players, with 51 and 80 respectively.
DiGirolamo has had a strong start to the season, but there have been some other notable playmakers for the Orange as well. Abby Moloughney was named the CHA Forward of the Week for the weekend of Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. The Senior scored a power-play goal against St. Lawrence in the first game that weekend and would answer late for Syracuse the next day. Moloughney would tie the game against the Saints in the third period to eventually bring the Orange to a 2-2 tie.
Also during that week, Freshman Forward Sarah Marchand was named an honorable mention for the CHA Rookie of the Week award, for an assist during the St. Lawrence series, and Arielle DeSmet was given an Honorable Mention for Goaltender of the Week. DeSmet saw her first action since transferring from Robert Morris after primary goaltender Allison Small went down with an injury during the first period of the season opener. In the two games that week against St. Lawrence, she finished with 51 saves.
DeSmet would play the overwhelming majority of the minutes between the pipes for Paul Flanagan’s team in October. For the weekend of Oct. 7-9, the Vermont native recorded 71 saves total against Clarkson, including 37 in one game — two shy of her career-high.
For the games taking place from Oct. 12-16, it was the Madison Primeau show. The freshman was named an honorable mention for CHA Forward of the Week, and outright won Rookie of the Week. The relative of two NHL players, Primeau scored in all three games that week — one against Union College and two against Colgate. The Etobicoke, Ontario native also had an assist in the second game against the Raiders. Out of the four awards given, half of those were given to Orange athletes — the other one being the aforementioned DiGirolamo.
These awards are showing that the contributions from Syracuse have been multifaceted. Despite the Orange being 2-5-2 on the young season, there have been contributions from many players. Sarah Marchand has been sharing the puck the whole month. The Freshman has 5 assists on the season so far. She, along with Primeau, have been big contributors on the offensive side of things in the first month. It’s not just the seniors and the grad students that have been producing. It’s also the young women — and the transfer in the case of Arielle DeSmet — that have been getting it done as well.
Syracuse will return to the ice for its November slate starting Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 PM at Tennity Ice Pavilion, where they will play RIT. The Orange then travel to Rochester to face the Tigers the next day at 6 PM.
ccadele@syr.edu | @cadeletv
