Shewchuk can also get past any defenseman in the country, except maybe a few of her teammates. Once she gets the puck in the offensive zone, it's usually a matter of seconds before she has walked around her defender into the seam and let fly a shot on goal.

"I like starting off at the halfboards regardless of which side of the ice I'm on because I like having room," Shewchuk says. "Other people on the team are better shooting on net from outside but I'm better suited to work around the zone and walking the seam allows me to do that. By walking the seam I can keep my eyes on the other side so I can see my teammates at the point."

And she has some talented teammates to work with. Harvard leads the ECAC in scoring, and most of that scoring comes form a first line that can do whatever it wants on the ice. Mleczko, Shewchuk and Botterill are the top three scorers in the country and all three can create scoring opportunities or finish what their line-mates started.

"Among the three of us, if somebody is open they will get the puck," Shewchuk says. "We read off each other very well, and none of us has the title of finisher. I don't know, maybe I have more goals because I take more shots. But our line is a great combination; it's very easy to play with them and it's a lot of fun."

And Shewchuk has displayed her playmaking ability with game-winning assists like the one in overtime for the conference championship. She has as many assists (50) as she has goals, good for second in the country only to Mleczko.

Perhaps her best all-around performance came in a 7-6 overtime in the first round of the Beanpot against Northeastern. She recorded a goal and five assists against the Huskies, including two passes to Botterill that sent the game into overtime and then sent the Crimson into the Beanpot championship game against Boston College.

"We're not worried about Tammy scoring goals or helping other people score goals," Stone says. "We are looking for the other thing off the puck that are very important to the success of this team. We want her to be a better playmaker, a good defensive player and to take different kinds of shot."

"She's capable of all those things and has made strides this year, but we're not going to settle for less because we know she has the tools to take it to the next level," Stone adds. "One of the goals of this program is to have her make the Canadian Olympic Team in 2002 because we think she is talented enough to do it."

Shewchuk took off last year to try out for the 1998 Canadian Olympic Team, but she was one of the final cuts after a broken shoulder forced her to miss a week of practice. She was invited to join Botterill on the Canadian National Team in the World championships last month but declined the offer.

"I thought I played well enough to make the team, but sometimes things don't work out and I learned a lot last year," she says. "The hardest thing in the world was watching the team losing in the championship game on TV and knowing I could have helped. But that's neither here nor there and I'm past that. One thing it taught me is being appreciative of my team at Harvard. This team is the most important thing in my life right now and I hope I can help us win the national championship."