LAUREL, Md. — There is only one way to go out and that is on top.

It is something every athlete dreams of, playing in that final game, winning it all and riding off into the sunset.

That dream became reality for the seniors of the national champion ACHA Div. I Penn State Icers, who captured their third straight national championship just over a week ago at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel, Md.

"That was the best way to go out, it ended perfectly," senior co-captain Kyle Jordan said.

What made the moment was the fact that all of the seniors played integral parts in the Icers success, and some saved their best for last.

Coming into the tournament, co-captain Scott Curry had yet to score this season, and had a career total of just six goals. He was saving them for when it mattered most.

"I have never been much of a goal scorer," he said. "A high school assistant coach told me a while back I was going to get some big (goals) someday. I was waiting."

Curry netted his first of the season in the second round against Kent State and followed that in the Final Four with a two-goal performance, the second of his career.

Fellow seniors Sean Waters and Geoff Beauparlant also saved some of their best hockey for the tournament.

In what proved to be the closest game of the tournament, the Icers beat Drexel 2-1 in the opening round, in part due to the play of the pair.

Waters scored the opening goal of the game and Beauparlant stopped all but one shot in the victory.

Jordan has been a major part of the team's success. He rose to the occasion despite surgery to reconstruct his knuckle just a few weeks ago. Jordan tallied a goal and two assists in the four games, which only put the icing on the cake.

"I thought we were only going to win one championship," he said. "I never could have imagined making it back to the championship game three straight years, it is just unreal."

A ride head coach Joe Battista has watched ever since this class came in four short years ago. He has seen them grow from freshmen who did not play much to seniors who were on the ice together when the final whistle blew.

"I was able to put all of them out there at the end," he said. "All five got to go out on the ice together, I cannot think of a better way to go out as seniors."

The fifth member is Joe McArdle, who is a senior with junior eligibility and is uncertain of his plans for next season.

McArdle registered two goals in the tournament and if he chooses to hang up his skates he will have had a successful career.

It was a thrilling career that all of the seniors can look back on knowing they went out as champions.

"I watched two sets of senior classes go out on top," Curry said. "For the past 12 months that was my major goal. I was trying to lead this team to a place that I wanted to be."