Coaches Vote Women’s Hockey First in ECAC

Boosted by the addition of three Olympians to its roster, the Harvard women’s hockey team earned the No. 1 spot in the ECAC pre-season coaches poll released on Monday.

The Crimson received six first place votes to earn 62 points, placing it atop the nine-team conference.

Dartmouth, the top regular season team last year, was second with 57 points and two first places votes. Brown, the defending ECAC North champion and runner-up to NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth, got the final first place vote to earn 51 points. St. Lawrence came in fourth with 44.

“These kinds of polls don’t mean anything yet,” said captain and defenseman Jamie Hagerman, who was unaware that the poll existed. “We haven’t even stepped on the ice yet.”

The four-time defending Beanpot champion Crimson was selected first largely on the strength of its returning veterans, including two Olympic gold medalists.

Junior Angela Ruggiero rejoins the defensive corps after a two-year hiatus in preparation for Salt Lake City, where she led the US team to a silver medal. Ruggiero won a gold medal in 1998.

Senior forward Jennifer Botterill returns after earning a gold medal for Team Canada last February. Botterill won the Patty Kazmaier Award given to the nation’s best player during the 2001 season.

Freshman forward Julie Chu, another silver medalist on the U.S. team, also joins the squad.

In addition to the Olympians old and new, the Crimson boasts a stellar returning class of skaters.

“The big names got us the pre-season No. 1,” captain Kalen Ingram said. “But the entire team’s going to get us through the year.”

Sophomore winger Nicole Corriero looks to build on her outstanding 2001-2002 ECAC North Rookie of the Year campaign that saw her score 32 goals and assist on 30 others. Senior centers Ingram (34 assists, second team All-ECAC) and Beanpot MVP Tracy Catlin will solidify an already potent offense in their final go at an NCAA title.

Senior defensemen Hagerman and Pamela Van Reesema, along with Ruggiero, will form the backbone of the defense. Sophomore Ashley Banfield, injured much of last season but impressive down the stretch, will provide speed and firepower at the blueline.

The Crimson’s biggest question mark may be at goaltender where Harvard returns junior Jessica Ruddock. Last year, Ruddock suffered a hip injury that forced her to miss the second half of the season. Harvard will need Ruddock to play up to her pre-injury form when she brought the Crimson to the 2001 Frozen Four.

Despite the preseason number one pick, the players say they do not any feel added pressure.

“It makes the bulls-eye bigger,” Hagerman said. “But we put pressure on ourselves to be as good as we can be.”

—Staff writer David A. Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu