“It was just Nicole working her magic,” Hagerman said.

With 17 goals in 55 opportunities (30.9 percent), Harvard now has the most proficient power play in the nation. That’s a better proficiency than last season when the Crimson also led the nation with 28 goals in 116 opportunities (24.1 percent).

“One of the great things about this program is that we’ve had the same power play for years,” Hagerman said. “Last year we had Tammy [Shewchuk ’00-’01] and Jen [Botterill ’01-’02] running the show, but we take them out, and put new people in. It’s the same setup, just new personnel.”

What’s astonishing is that Harvard has achieved greater power-play proficiency this season without the 2002 Canadian Olympians Botterill and Shewchuk.

“We’re very young, and I think sometimes kids look left, look right, and see that Botterill’s not there, Shewchuk’s not there, or [Angie] Francisco [’01]—any of those kids,” Stone said. “So they learn that they have to do it themselves.”

While the power-play success was a positive that afternoon, one of the negatives was that for the third straight game, Harvard allowed a team to cut a two-goal deficit to one in the final four minutes. The Crimson has also allowed goals inside the final four minutes in each of its last five games.

Maine made the game close again as Meagan Aarts scored her 11th and 12th goals of the season, the first goal coming 6:09 into the third, and the second goal coming with 1:25 left in regulation after Smart had been pulled for an extra skater.

Maine outshot Harvard 28-20 but sophomore goaltender Jessica Ruddock made that deficit irrelevant with 26 saves, including 16 in the third period alone. Harvard’s lead was threatened in the first period when the Black Bears earned a couple breakaways by splitting Crimson defenders, but Ruddock kept them off the scoreboard.

The Maine game was Harvard’s last nonconference game of the season outside of the Beanpot.

Harvard 4, UNH 3

DURHAM, N.H.—Ingram’s hat trick of three similar power-play goals was the difference as Harvard survived an emotionally wrenching game marred by freshman Nicole Corriero’s scary second-period collision into the rear boards and UNH’s fiery third-period rally.

“[Ingram] put herself in the right spot three times on our power play. That kid was awesome. She gets better every single game. I said from the day she got here three years ago, she’s the smartest player I’ve ever had,” Stone said.

Harvard has now beaten UNH nine consecutive times since the national championship season of 1999, when the Crimson swept the Wildcats in the regular season and beat them in overtime of the ECAC and AWCHA championship games. Harvard was 0-22-1 against UNH prior to that year.

Ingram thought that Harvard goaltender Alison Kuusisto deserved more credit for the victory than she did. On the strength of Kuusisto’s career-high matching 38 saves, the Crimson won the game despite being outshot 41-28.

“Our goalie kept us in there in the second period when we were dead,” Ingram said. “She made some big saves and that’s what we needed, because we have a young team and sometimes it takes a little longer to figure things out. She was the No. 1 star for us [on Friday].”