Senior defender Jenna Lictenwalner shyly smiled and quietly trudged off the rink and into the tunnel towards the locker room with Lady Icers assistant coach Derek Arledge not far behind.

Meanwhile, senior forward Kate Specchio grabbed fellow senior forward Lauren Shaw's skates and started dragging her as Shaw lay down on the rink, clawing at the ice and screaming "I don't want to go!"

Just before they reached the tunnel, Shaw and Specchio turned around and began running and sliding around, pulling their jerseys over their heads, laughing and smiling. Finally, they too disappeared into the tunnel as rink staff prepared for the game of broomball coming next.

This was how those four left the Greenberg Ice Pavilion surface for the last time as members of the Lady Icers.

Before pregame warmups, the team celebrated with a ceremony for the four. Two team members came forward to share what each senior meant to them before presenting them with flowers and a warm embrace.

Common themes in the player's speeches about the seniors were how each one shaped the team by their leadership, each in their own way.

Shaw and Specchio are seen as fun-lovers while being serious yet emotional players once the puck drops. Shaw, the fifth leading scorer in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, often dances with freshman goalie Tara Wheeler during warm-ups and occasionally displays her emotions freely after the whistles. She and Specchio, who share an apartment with other Lady Icers, also can be seen goofing around as they were on Saturday after the game. Meanwhile, Lictenwalner is easy to casually overlook on defense, yet Sharpe and her teammates said they couldn't overstate her importance.

"She just works hard all the time," Lady Icers coach Jeremy Sharpe said. "She doesn't say much [in the locker room] but she doesn't have to, the way she plays."

Arledge, an assistant coach for three years, specialized in teaching defense and maintaining psychological balance for the team.

"I'm going to miss him," Sharpe said. "Many times, he's calmed both me and the team down."

To say thanks and give them one last chance at glory, Lictenwalner, Shaw, and Specchio were inserted into the starting line-up and received a lot of playing time in both of the weekend's games. The move played dividends for Penn State, as all contributed meaningfully to Saturday's victory, particularly in the third period. Specchio and Shaw broke away for a 2-on-1 43 seconds into the third for a goal by Shaw, providing the winning goal. Later on, Lictenwalner was caught in an Ohio State 3-on-1, only to break it up by tipping the puck out of danger's way. Afterward, all said that beyond playing with the team, they would miss the off-ice camaraderie the team enjoys.

"There'll be many more ice hockey teams, but none like this ever again," Shaw said while the other three nodded in agreement.

Specchio added, "Everyone's so close and we all hang out [with one another]. This is one of the greatest teams I have ever played for ... I'm going to miss them."