Colgate University senior Danielle Serdachny and sophomore Sydney Morrow skated together during a 2023-24 ice hockey season that took their team to a spot in the Frozen Four, where Colgate fell to Wisconsin in the semifinals.
On Monday, though, Serdachny and Morrow sat on benches across the ice from each other during the preliminary round USA-Canada game at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championships at the Adirondack Bank Center at Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica.
Serdachny, of Edmonton, Alberta, plays for Team Canada. Morrow, of Darien, Connecticut, is an alternate on Team USA. The two teams are favorites to meet again in Sunday’s championship game.
That sets up a bit of a conflict for Morrow’s and Serdachny’s Colgate teammates, more than half of whom are Canadian. A group of them who could get away went to Monday’s USA-Canada game in which the United States won 1-0 in overtime.
Freshman Madeline Palumbo, of Courtice, Ontario, rooted for Team Canada.
“We obviously want to cheer for both Syd and Dachs (Serdachny’s team nickname),” she said. “But I think at the end of the day, a few of us are biased for where we’re from. But obviously, we wish the best for both of them.”
Morrow and Serdachny are not Colgate’s only ties to the Women’s Worlds. Noemi Neubauerova, a 2022 Colgate graduate, plays for the team from Czechia. The former teammates played each other on Sunday in a game some of the Colgate players watched as well. Serdachny scored the first goal for Canada in its 5-0 victory.
And Team USA Assistant Coach Josh Sciba worked as an assistant coach at Colgate from 2012 to 2016.
Two more Colgate players — fifth-year seniors Sydney Bard, of New Hartford, and Allyson Simpson, of Frisco, Texas — were invited to the U.S. National Women’s Team Evaluation Camp, along with Morrow, and were cut in the final rounds, Colgate Coach Greg Fargo said.
‘Something to look up to’
Colgate player Emma Pais, a freshman from London, Ontario, grew up watching the women’s world championship on TV and saw some of the games live last year in Brampton, Ontario.
But, watching games is a lot different, she said, when you have friends on the teams. “I feel like, sometimes, when I’m watching, I get more nervous than when I’m playing,” Pais said, “especially when you’re watching your teammate. I was definitely cheering them on.”
Watching their teammates make their national teams also…
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