That offense features five of the top 20 scorers in the ECAC. The top line of co-captain A.J. Mleczko, sophomore Tammy Shewchuk and freshman Jen Botterill has combined for 43 points in six games. But scoring has also come from Ruggiero and sophomore forwards Angie Francisco and Tara Dunn, who have combined for 30 points.
When these two explosive offenses clash Sunday, penalties may be the difference in the game. The rink is larger at UNH's Whittemore Center than at the Bright Center. That space will give both offenses more room to operate, especially on the power play.
And there probably will be plenty of power plays. Harvard is averaging 12 penalty minutes a game, while UNH averages 12.5 penalty minutes per contest. However, the Crimson and the Wildcats have the two best penalty kill percentages in the ECAC.
Harvard should be productive if its power play unit of Mleczko, Francisco, Shewchuk, Botterill and Ruggiero can play with a man advantage and enough room to spread the offense. But it will be especially difficult for a shorthanded Crimson defense to stop the Wildcats' potent offense.
"There will be some penalties both ways because of the intensity of this game," Asano said. "Their power play is a lot different from our power play because they run a cycle out of the corner. We haven't had to kill a power play like that this year, so we've been practicing our man-down defense all week."
The Whittemore Center was the site of last season's first-round playoff game between Harvard and UNH. The Wildcats narrowly escaped an upset by pulling out a 2-1 victory in overtime. With Harvard joining UNH as one of the top programs in the country this season, that quarterfinal may have been the start of a long rivalry between the Crimson and the Wildcats.
"This is a rematch, but we have more to prove this time because we have a lot more talent now," said Asano of what could be her last trip to the Whittemore Center. "We have something to prove because we could have beaten them last year and we have more talent than we [seniors] have ever had in our careers."
More importantly, this is another chance to see how Harvard and UNH perform against other top teams. The Crimson has outscored its opponents by a combined 35-10, and the Wildcats have dominated their victims by a combined 52-11. The scores have not been nearly as lopsided against ranked teams, however.
Harvard defeated No. 6 Providence, 6-1, and No. 4 Minnesota, 3-1, but lost to No. 2 Brown, 4-2. UNH, meanwhile, tied all three of those teams. There might be a significant decline in competition after the top six teams in the nation, but when the best teams have played each other, the games have been very close.
"These are the kind of games we want to play," Stone said. "We want to be in tight match-ups as much as we can because it makes you better, shows you what you're made of, shows you how good you are and--win or lose--shows you what you need to work on.
"It's still early in the season, and we're not anywhere near what we'll be in March, but we're ready to go. I think that if we do the things we do well and worry about ourselves, we'll win."