Finishing What They Started

New year. New team. That’s the motto for Harvard women’s hockey. After suffering a heartbreaking end to last year’s near-perfect season, the team’s 21 returning players and three freshmen are leaving the past behind them and looking for a fresh start.

“Last year was an amazing year,” tri-captain Jenny Brine says. “But we can’t live in the past.”

The Crimson capped off an incredible 2007-08 season last year with an overall 32-2-0 record and was undefeated at home. Harvard was sent home without a national title after losing to Wisconsin in the national semifinals in Duluth, Minn., an experience that will be hard to forget.

“I do hope that our kids continue to have a bad taste in their mouth about how things ended up for us last year,” Crimson coach Katey Stone says. “We had a tremendous regular season and a good run in the postseason, and then the wheels fell off in the semifinal game.”

But Harvard’s not interested in replicating the past. To succeed in the always-challenging ECAC, the Crimson will have to be even better than it was last season.

“I think every year it’s different. You reinvent yourselves a little bit, and you get different leadership,” Stone says. “We’ve got some holes to fill, which we’re hoping to do, but we want to be more aggressive. We want to be more offensive, and still play great defense.”

After losing just four players to graduation, Harvard has the luxury of returning its core group of skaters. The coaches hope to use that knowledge of their players to push the team to a higher level.

Returning to the squad is tri-captain Sarah Vaillancourt, last year’s recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Award, which honors the best women’s hockey player in the country. Vaillancourt was also named ECAC and Ivy League player of the year and should continue to add to her lengthy list of accolades.

But with a new team comes new expectations, and the thought of individual prizes pales in comparison to the prospect of that one elusive title.

“I’m doing the same thing that I’ve always done while I’m here,” Vaillancourt says. “I do my best for my team to win, and if that helps my individual stats, then good for me, but that’s not really my intention. If I’m not racking up the points and we win more games, then I’ll be happier with that.”

“[Vaillancourt’s] an incredible player,” Brine says. “We have such a great team atmosphere that I’m sure [an award is] not even [in] the forefront of her mind right now. We want a national championship. She’s already exceeded expectations, and this season she’s going to come in level-headed.”

Vaillancourt, Brine, and Kirsten Kester will help guide Harvard as the team’s captains, leading the Crimson to what looks to be another successful season.

“I think the three of us work really well together,” Vaillancourt says. “We’ve all had different experiences in life and having to do with hockey. Kirsten is more philosophical and calm. Jenny’s calmer too. I’m the more in-your-face captain. I think the three of us will be a great team.”

Another standout among a team of stars is junior goaltender Christina Kessler, who set the NCAA single-season shutout record last year on her way to being named an All-American. Kessler kept opponents silent in 12 games and recorded a .952 save percentage for the season.

This year, the starting role is Kessler’s to lose, and there will be no lack of depth at the goalie position. Senior Brittany Martin is back from an injury that prevented her from playing for much of last season.

“It’s been a battle every year for them, and it’s fun to witness,” Brine says. “They both are top-notch goaltenders, and it’s going to be a battle all year long.”

Sophomore Kylie Stephens has also impressed in limited play.

“It’s a blessing and a curse to have three very competitive goaltenders,” Stone says. “It’s great, because you know you have somebody to rely on if something happens, but it also makes it really tough to make those decisions.”

Though goaltending is a strength, Harvard will take a noticeable hit after graduating defenseman and former Olympian Caitlin Cahow ’07-’08. The team will look to its strong leadership, impressive speed, and now-experienced sophomores to fill that void.

The Crimson’s schedule this season includes the usual slate of games against ECAC competition and local non-conference foes, but the team will also travel to the Great White North to take on Minnesota for a two-game series starting Nov. 28.

Returning to Minnesota, the site of last year’s heartbreak, serves as a reminder of the team’s ultimate ambition: a national championship.

“All of us, we want to win,” sophomore Liza Ryabkina says. “We want to be the best we can.”

For an experienced and determined Crimson squad, the best may be yet to come.