Even though Flanagan will be better able to handle Harvard next year, once Botterill and Shewchuk have departed for the 2002 Olympics, the St. Lawrence Coach will miss the challenge of facing the two Canadian forwards.

"As a coach, I enjoyed our two meetings with them this year," Flanagan said. "I enjoyed coaching against them, and our first two meetings with them this year were close. Probably a part of me will be glad that they're gone, but I enjoy watching the better players."

U.S. National Team defenseman Tara Mounsey--whose career at Brown ended a year early last season--was one of the first players to leave Flanagan in awe.

"Last year, I remember watching Mounsey play--I hadn't seen her until the first time we played her," Flanagan said. "It was just so exciting to watch her play, even though they beat us, 3-1."

The level of talented players in women's college hockey will be seriously depleted next season due to Olympic defections, which makes the world that much bleaker for Flanagan.

"We want to get our program to where we can beat anyone--we want to beat the best," Flanagan said. "That's why I hate to see some of these other players leave to national team programs."

Among his own team, First Team All-ECAC defenseman Isabelle Chartrand is likely to leave next year for Team Canada, while third-line forward Gina Kingsbury is a Canadian alternate.

Harvard, meanwhile, lost defenseman Angela Ruggiero to the U.S. National Team this fall, although she did make the trip up from Lake Placid to Hanover this weekend in time to work the color commentary for WHRB alongside Brian Schulz. Both Ruggiero and Botterill will be gone again next season for the 2002 Olympics before returning to Harvard for the remainder of their eligibility.