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When Syracuse needs to get “fired up” between periods, the team turns on Warrant’s glam-metal classic “Cherry Pie,” prompting Victoria Klimek to dance. Klimek then grabs her stick and uses it as an air guitar, according to forward Lauren Bellefontaine, putting together a performance that will hype the team up ahead of a grueling 20 minutes.

“Everyone, from the freshman to the fifth-years, looks up to Klimek to bring that energy to the team,” Bellefontaine said. “Everyone looks to her for what we need, especially when we’re down in the game because she’s the one who’s screaming and getting everyone fired up.”

It’s a contagious attitude that Klimek has carried into her fifth and final season with Syracuse. The Orangeville, Ontario, native has become the most tenured player in both College Hockey America and Syracuse ice hockey history, having played 157 games for the Orange. She’s accumulated 69 points and 37 career goals, second amongst active CHA players.

“It’s pretty crazy to think that I’ve been here that long,” Klimek said. “I feel that I’m young at heart, and I sometimes feel that I just got here yesterday as a freshman and said bye to my parents the first time.”

Klimek played all 36 games during her freshman season in 2017-18 after joining Syracuse from the Oakville Jr. Hornets, a team in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League. While Klimek initially struggled in the first few games of her career, SU head coach Paul Flanagan remembers realizing the player Klimek would become during an early-season matchup against Providence on Oct. 13, 2017. Despite not scoring, Flanagan recalled Klimek’s eight breakaways, which Flanagan said was the benchmark for how her career would eventually unfold.

“I remember their coach said, ‘Oh my gosh, that kid is going to score 20 goals here,’” Flanagan said. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh’ as well, and that set the tone for the way she’s played here.”

Klimek’s production quickly took off as she scored her first collegiate goal the next day in the second game of the Providence series.

“It’s obviously an accomplishment,” Klimek said. “But I’m just really happy to have played alongside some of my best friends for five years and make history in my sophomore year and make history again this year.”

This season, Klimek was named one of Syracuse’s two assistant captains and is on track for the best year of her career. Through 25 games, she has already tied her career-high in all three scoring categories, and she is one of four SU players with at least 20 points.

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With Klimek’s newly appointed “A” on her jersey — signifying her assistant captain role — she has become one of the Orange’s prominent vocal leaders and likes to keep things light, even influencing the team when she’s quiet, senior forward Abby Moloughney said.

“No matter whether we’re up or down in a game, she always stays positive,” Moloughney said. “Even if she’s not speaking or not saying anything, we still will always follow her because of the way she carries herself on the ice.”

Klimek’s leadership will be paramount down the stretch, as the Orange’s final regular-season series carries the possibility to make history for the program. Syracuse currently sits atop the CHA standings, needing just one more win in its final series against Mercyhurst to secure a regular-season title and host the postseason tournament. Having already played her last regular-season game at Tennity Ice Pavilion, Klimek is determined to push her team over the top and earn the opportunity to play at home once more.

As her final regular-season series comes to a close, Klimek said she was thankful for her opportunity to come back and add to her career while pursuing her master’s degree. With a career full of heroic moments almost behind her, Klimek said she hopes to put an exclamation point in her last few games.

“The energy is just awesome with this group, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to spend my fifth year with,” Klimek said. “I’m hoping that I can leave this year with a new favorite memory from Syracuse.”

Published on February 9, 2022 at 9:51 pm

Contact Sam: swarre03@syr.edu