Two years ago, Syracuse was in the middle of its conference tournament run when captain Stephanie Grossi was presented with an award at a banquet. But a professor did not allow Grossi to miss class to join her team to receive the award, she said, so she arrived at the team hotel late that night and readied herself for what would be a triple overtime thriller the next day.

“She was so excited to be there,” said SU head coach Paul Flanagan. “She played the whole game.”

Running on almost no rest and playing the equivalency of two games, Grossi scored the game-winning goal, pushing the Orange to the College Hockey American championship. Two years later, the senior captain has led Syracuse in goals each year, but as the season began she suffered an undisclosed injury that caused her to miss two weeks. Last week, Grossi returned to the ice against Northeastern but Syracuse (1-6-1) won only one game in her absence.

“She has a twofold effect,” Flanagan said. “On the ice she does what she does, how she carries herself. She is a fabulous student, extremely organized and is so dedicated.”

Entering the year, one of Grossi’s goals was to be a leader on-and-off the ice. It helped push Grossi to battle back to full strength after a two-week absence.

“When you’re out you really realize how much it means to be on the ice with your teammates,” Grossi said.

Victoria Klimek, who is tied for the team-lead in goals (three), will now have another offensive threat with the return of Grossi. She said Grossi gave the team that extra push before game time.

Klimek recalled Grossi’s first game of 2017, when Grossi wrote on her hand “Be relentless,” before the game. She urged the rest of her line mates to do the same. Then, she gathered her line mates together and screamed, “What are we going to be?” The team responded by screaming “Relentless.”

To her team Grossi is a special player, someone they can look up too and gravitate toward. And Grossi is all about her team, putting Syracuse ahead of herself in all instances.

“If anybody wants to look at how I should act as a Division I student athlete, look at her,” Flanagan said. “She is never me, me, me, she is always about us, us, us.”

Published on October 29, 2017 at 10:11 pm

Contact Anthony: amkhelil@syr.edu