W. Hockey Battles Youth, Inexperience

When the Harvard women’s ice hockey team faced off against Colgate on Saturday, it began a new season as a young team that has high hopes for the new year. Coming off a 23-10-0 record in the 2000-2001 season, the Crimson earned a No. 4 preseason ranking in the ECAC Northern Division.

The key to Harvard’s success this year will be its ability to generate a cohesive unit with such a young roster. The Crimson is relying on its more experienced players to guide the seven new members of the squad in the new season.

“We’ve tried to reiterate in meetings that it’s not about just one person trying to spread the good word, it’s about everyone sort of helping these new kids along, showing them what the traditions of this program are all about,” said Harvard Coach Katey Stone.

Facing major losses in the starting line-up, Harvard is hoping its rookies will step up to help bring the team back to the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four.

“[The freshmen] have made a good combination with our veterans,” Stone said. “Everyone is gelling pretty well together. We’re going to continue the Harvard tradition of outworking people.”

One challenge that the team is facing is replacing the offense it lost with the departure of Jennifer Botterill (42-36—78) and Tammy Shewchuk (29-46—75), two of the top three scorers in the nation last year.

Shewchuk led the nation in assists and finished her collegiate career as the most prolific scorer in Harvard history.

Botterill was awarded the 2001 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the most outstanding female collegiate hockey player in the U.S. She led the nation in points with 78 and game-winning goals with seven.

The lone remaining forward from last year’s regular first line is junior Kalen Ingram, who had 21 goals and 25 assists and scored the game-winning goals in the final three victories of the season.

Ingram’s two years of experience will be key in providing veteran leadership for the new recruits.

“We have a lot of good goal scorers coming up in the freshman class,” Ingram said. “People from last year who might not have gotten a lot of ice time are going to get huge chances to play this year.”

Returning with Ingram on the offensive line is junior Tracy Catlin, who recorded ten goals, including two game-winners, and six assists last season. The players from last year’s third line—senior Vanessa Bazzocchi, sophomore Lauren McAuliffe and sophomore Mina Pell—will likely see increased playing time.

“We’re just trying different combinations, putting people in every position and seeing how they play together,” Stone said.

Walk-on freshman defender Emily Haige has been seeing practice time at the forward position along with fellow rookies Nicole Corriero, Sarah Holbrook, Katherine Sweet and Ali Crum.

“It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen now,” Ingram said. “The work ethic is there; everyone’s hustling, that’s all you really need to get the ball rolling.”

The Crimson defense maintains some continuity with the return of juniors Pamela Van Reesema and Jamie Hagerman. Both players transition from being the youngest members of the defense to the most experienced.

The Harvard team is emphasizing teamwork, especially on the defense end, with all the changes in the lineup.

“It’s not necessarily the two defensemen in at the time, it’s all five of us who have to work together, especially now that we have such a different team,” Hagerman said. “It’s going to be more of everyone in every zone working together more so this year than ever before.”

Though both Hagerman (3-17—20) and Van Reesema (2-14—16) contributed to the offense last year, their attacks on net may be tempered this year by the numbers of minutes they expect to log.

“If we have open ice, we’re going to take it,” Hagerman said. “But we’re not going to force it because we’re going to play a lot of minutes and see a lot of ice time.”

Along with Haige, Ashley Banfield and Louise Chim look to make contributions to the defense in their rookie campaigns.

“We’re really hoping that we’re going to have some new people emerge as leaders,” Hagerman said. “We have great leaders in this year’s senior and junior classes, but we’re really hoping for the freshmen to take it upon themselves to make their own places on the team.”

Harvard benefits from having all three goalkeepers from last season return to action this year. Last year’s main starter, sophomore Jessica Ruddock, earned Honorable Mention All-Ivy League honors for her rookie season. Ruddock played in 25 games and posted a 2.19 GAA.

“[Ruddock is] going to have to play a huge role this year because we don’t have a lot of defensemen,” Hagerman said. “She’s going to have to be someone we can count on everyday, and she knows that she’ll see 30, 40, 50 shots a game.”

Vying for playing time will be senior Alison Kuusisto, who played in 10 games with a 2.48 GAA, and sophomore Emily Smith, who saw limited action last season.

Stone has yet to determine who the regular starting goalie will be this season, if there is one.

“Alison Kuusisto has gotten much stronger this year in the offseason,” Stone said. “It’s very obvious how hard she’s worked. And Emily Smith has gotten a lot better as well. It’s nice to have that problem to figure out who’s going to play in the net.”

With the short squad that Harvard features, the veterans on the team knew that physical fitness was a priority. The returning players came back from the lay-off in excellent condition, earning the praise of their coach.

“The physical conditioning with which our returning players came back was outstanding,” Stone said. “It’s a nice example to be set right from the beginning by the veterans.”

The Harvard schedule began with games at Cornell and Colgate this weekend. The home opener is this Friday against Vermont. All three enter the season ranked below Harvard in the nine-team Northern Division at Nos. 8, 6, and 9, respectively.

The Crimson faces much tougher opposition in its upcoming games, including match-ups against the two highest ranked teams in the country, powerhouses No. 2 Dartmouth and No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, on consecutive weekends in November.

Dartmouth enters the season as the preseason favorite to win the ECAC Northern Region. Minn.-Duluth is the defending NCAA champion and is favored to repeat as national champions with all of its European national team players back to start the season.

“Our first games were against lower ranked teams, so we have a chance to experiment and get to know each other better,” Ingram said. “Then we have five really tough games in a row. We’re going to really be tested and I’m looking forward to it.”

The learning curve for the youth of the team will be a significant factor for Harvard to challenge the top competition. The rookies will have an immediate impact on the team, and all players will have the opportunity to emerge as key contributors.

“We’re not going to start out the season where we’ll finish,” Hagerman said. “And every day is one more building block to being the best in the end.”