Harvard Hockey, Stars, and Stripes Forever

Call it crimson, white, and blue.

The preliminary roster for the U.S. Women’s National Team was unveiled by USA Hockey yesterday, and three of Harvard’s American Olympians made the cut.

Angela Ruggerio ‘02-’04, still alive on the current season of NBC’s The Apprentice, will be joined by active Crimson skaters Julie Chu and Caitlin Cahow. All three were designated locks to remain on the squad when the roster is trimmed from 24 to 20 in the coming weeks.

“As far as playing with the U.S. team,” Chu said in a conference call with reporters yesterday, “I’ve always approached it as a great blessing, just thinking what an honor it is to be able to represent my country, and play with some of the players that are some of the best in the world.”

The team assembles in Grand Forks, Mich. for a pre-World Championships training camp on March 21, wrapping up on April 1 with the second of two scrimmages against Sweden, the country that knocked the U.S. from gold-medal contention with a stunning upset in the semifinal round last February in Turin, Italy. Then it’s on to the week-long IIHF World Championship in the Winnipeg area, where the Americans hope to defend their first-ever world title, earned when they outlasted Canada in a shootout in 2005. Before that, the Stars and Stripes had claimed eight straight silvers at worlds.

“I want to remind you of an often overlooked fact—we’re the defending world champions,” said Dave Ogrean, the executive director of USA Hockey, on yesterday’s call. “While we did not end up in [Turin] with the kind of medal hanging around our necks that we necessarily went there for, we have the title of world champions and we go into tough territory, up in Canada, to play and try to defend that title.”

All of this makes for a busy early spring for Chu and Cahow, instrumental cogs on a sixth-ranked Harvard team that still has national title aspirations. The NCAA Frozen Four, should the Crimson advance to that stage, is scheduled for the weekend of March 16-18. If not, Harvard is still a likely bet to qualify for the eight-team tournament field, which contests its quarterfinals the weekend prior. Meaning Chu and Cahow, and their Crimson teammate, Canadian team mainstay Sarah Vaillancourt, for that matter, will not get an extended break from ultra-competitive hockey until mid-April at the earliest.

“I just want to enjoy the last few weeks of my season and get the most out of it as possible and maybe try to extend my college career,” said Chu, a seven-year member of the national team program and veteran of two Olympics and three World Championships.

After missing last season to participate in the Winter Games, Chu is enjoying a prolific senior campaign, ranking as the national leader in assists and points per game and emerging as one of the front-runners for the 10th anniversary Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top player in women’s college hockey.

“I think returning from the Olympics there’s always going to be this notion of how is the transition going to be to the college atmosphere and college hockey,” Chu said. “And for me it’s been so incredibly easy. It’s a testament to what a great fit Harvard has been for me. Academically, it probably took a little bit of time to shake off the rust on the reading and the essay portion of academics, but it’s really been great being able to go back to school. And especially play on the team, which I feel has always been kind of a family for me.”

Ruggiero, despite her newfound fame as a reality TV star, is envious of Chu’s ability to stay in Cambridge.

“Unlike [Chu], who luckily got to go back to Harvard—I got to do that after [the] 2002 [Olympics]—I’m working full-time.”

Ruggiero is working for the New York Islanders of the NHL, directing Project Hope, which aims to promote youth hockey in China. In addition to her professional commitments, Ruggiero finds the time to train and stay in hockey shape, and is looking forward to returning to competition.

“It’s an honor obviously to be a part of my seventh World Championship team and just to be able to put our jersey on again and represent USA is always a thrill,” she said. “I’m very much looking forward to being a part of this team and seeing my teammates again. Coming off an Olympic year, where you spend every day and every night with them, you miss them.”

One other interesting component of the process is that current Harvard rivals on the collegiate scene will become the national team compatriots of its standouts shortly. Chu and Cahow are two of 10 current collegians on the preliminary roster, which also includes three Wisconsin Badgers, two BC Eagles, and one player each from Dartmouth, Minnesota, and Yale.

Chu and Cahow and the entire Crimson team gets its chance at the Bulldogs and their star defenseman Helen Resor tomorrow night at Bright Hockey Center.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.