The chant is the acronym of the Knights’ namesake, Denis J. O’Connell. And the Knights had seized the momentum.
Things changed in the blink of a shot from freshman Maddie Mansour, who sent a blast from the blue line that rippled the back of the net and gave the Cadets the boost they needed.
“I honestly wasn’t expecting it,” Mansour said. “It kick-started momentum for our team.”
The Cadets (13-3-1) weren’t threatened again.
“Getting that goal back kind of helped spark our bench,” St. John’s Coach David Sauer said. “It was huge.”
O’Connell (12-4) struggled to keep the puck out of its zone in the first period and Mansour made the Knights pay, scoring her first goal on a third-minute slap shot from the right wing. Senior forward Ava Nicholson followed up shortly after with a score off the rebound to stretch the lead to two.
The Knights had their share of chances to open the second period, finally capitalizing when senior forward Campbell Thompson halved their deficit with a nifty wrist shot on the power play.
An insurance goal from junior Dani Maier put St. John’s up three early in the third period and it cruised from there. The Cadets’ final two goals — Peyton Yeager and Ellie Holt scored seconds apart — came with five seniors on the ice.
St. John’s dominated the regular season series, outscoring the Knights 15-1 in two games. With Friday’s matchup playing much tighter through the first two periods, Sauer emphasized to the team during intermission that staying locked in would be critical.
“In the beginning our girls were playing a little bit of catch-up,” Sauer said. “Once we started picking our game up, it got a little easier.”
Junior netminder Isabella Gorkowski (38 saves) gave the Knights a valiant effort in net. Her counterpart, Cadets junior goalie Alejandra Neal, made eight saves.