When Harvard Women's Ice Hockey Coach Katey Stone looked over the field a year ago, she was optimistic.

"I foresee it being a coin toss next year, and who knows what will happen after that," she said. "It might be a Harvard dynasty pretty soon."

Stone probably had no idea how just how good her foresight was. Her program stands on the brink of what is expected to be an extremely successful season--a season that could mark the beginning of, in Stone's own words, "a Harvard dynasty."

While a powerhouse Harvard program is a very real possibility as the season kicks off, Coach Stone and her squad are well aware of the pitfalls that lie along the way. Injury, complacency, hype, exhaustion: Any one of these things could waylay the Crimson during the course of its long season.

Of course, on the subject of hype, it would be a crime not to mention the wealth of firepower the women's hockey team will skate with this year.

Harvard's 14 wins last year were its most since the 1988-89 season, and they mark the winningest campaign of Stone's tenure at Harvard.

Newly added to the Crimson roster this year are freshmen Angela Ruggiero--late of the gold-medal winning United States Olympic team--and Jen Botterill of the silver-medal winning Canadian team. Returning to the roster from year-long training absences are co-captain and U.S. gold-medalist A.J. Mleczko and sophomore Tammy Shewchuk, Harvard's 1996-97 leading scorer and a final cut from the Canadian Olympic squad. Returning from the 1997-98 squad are Harvard's Most Valuable Player and leading scorer, sophomore Angie Francisco, Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kiirsten Suurkask, their linemate and senior sparkplug Jen Gerometta, co-captain Claudia Asano on defense and junior goalie standout Crystal Springer. This season also marks the first in which the team comprised entirely of Stone's recruits.

Make no mistake, Stone has a good eye. The Crimson is loaded with talent this year, and the players are smart enough to be worried about it.

"I think that one of the things that we learned from last year was we were definitely talented, but we sometimes relied on that talent too much, which led us to be inconsistent a lot," senior Kyle Walsh said. "No talent in the world is going to help you if you don't hustle."

Mleczko, who took two years off from school to train with the U.S. National Team, says her experience in international hockey taught her the same thing.

"One of the things that I've learned in the past two years is that, in the end, team chemistry is more important than individual talent," Mleczko said.

With that in mind, Stone has been focusing onteam building during the preseason.

"I've tried to tell the kids that, individuallythey've accomplished some great things, and that'ssomething we can all be proud of," Stone said."But as Harvard hockey, they haven't accomplishedanything yet, and that's what we need to focuson."

To that end, Harvard has thrown itself into itspreseason strength and conditioning training witha new enthusiasm.

"I'm very pleased with the preseason; the kidshave really taken this new program by the hornsand developed and fine-tuned it into somethingthat they know is going to make them better,"Stone said. "At the end of a contest, when youknow you've got a little bit left in your tank,that alone is confidence, and sometimes that's allyou need."

On-ice practices have also been much morecompetitive than in previous years.

Two years ago Harvard experienced some prettyrough times. With only 11 skaters on the team,everyone knew they would play. They also knew theywould be exhausted.

Now with 25 players on the roster and only 20players permitted to dress for each game, thingsare a bit different.

"With 25 or so people out there every day, weall know that we need to work and we all know thatwe have to prove ourselves every day," Mleczkosaid.

"If the power-play group isn't performing, thencoach has other options that she can put outthere. That kind of competition goes a long waytowards preventing the complacency we want toavoid," she added.

And complacency is a thing to be averted at allcosts this year, because the ECAC is, in a word,stacked.

"There aren't any holidays any more," Stonesaid. "You have to be on every day.

With the likes of last year's national championNew Hampshire, last year's ECAC champion Brown,third-ranked and crosstown rival Northeastern andteams like Dartmouth, Princeton and Providencepeopling the league, Harvard has little breathingroom.

"Every game is going to be crazy competitionbecause we're going to be the team to knock off,"Asano said. "All these Olympic players are back.All the teams are getting filled with greatplayers. There's lot of parity in the league now;everyone is going to be very good, and we have tobe prepared for every game."

To combat the competition, Harvard has beenworking new forechecks and a zone defense ratherthan a man-on-man backcheck. Despite thosechanges, Harvard will not be unrecognizable to theCrimson faithful.

"We had a very potent attack last year andsolid goaltending," Stone said. "We just feel asthough we've upped it a notch. We have a few moreweapons now than we used to but we're going toplay the same hard, aggressive hockey we alwayshave, only with a little more skill now."

The team seems ready emotionally, too.

"Frankly we have a really fun team," Mleczkosaid." We have a lot of fun together, and thatreally helps in making the long road trips and thehard times less of a drag."

"If you put 25 good kids in a room they'regoing to make it, and they can figure out how toget through the tough times," Stone said. "We'vegot solid character in that locker room andoftentimes the chemistry and the dynamic take careof themselves when you've got such good kids."

The Crimson has all the makings of a greatteam. It has talent, it has unity, and perhapsmost important of all, its players are aware ofthe things that can go wrong. They know that outon the ice, anything can happen.

So far, Harvard is doing its best to avoidthose pitfalls, and the only question that remainsis, how far can the Crimson go?

"I think we have the potential to do so well,"Mleczko said. "If we can harness that potentialand produce what we're capable of producing, Ithink we can go all the way."

"Our goals are the same as they are everyyear," Stone said. "We'd like to win the IvyLeague. We'd like to win the Beanpot. We'd like towin the ECAC's, and we'd like to win a NationalChampionship. All those things are possible, butthey're not easy."

Even without a national championship, there isthe sense that this may be the turning point forHarvard women's hockey. The sport itself is in aperiod of fantastic growth, and Harvard is poisedto take advantage of that growth.

Perhaps it is fitting that Asano, who has seenthe thin times in Harvard's hockey program, wouldput it best:

"I think this year we have more team unity; ourmorale is higher," Asano said. "People are justpsyched to be playing and psyched to be out there.

"This is the beginnings of a program that'sgoing to be strong for a very long time," sheadded.Courtesy of Harvard Sports InformationA-1: Senior A.J. MLECZKO's return tothe Harvard women's hockey team is one of multiplereasons for its preseason ranking as No. 5 in thenation.