It was the game of the season, and, probably, the greatest game in the history of women’s collegiate hockey. Number one versus number two battling to a thrilling 4-3 finish in double overtime.
Despite a win over the Bulldogs earlier in the season, Harvard finished second in the battle of the year.
Think they’ll be looking for a measure of redemption when the two teams play on back-to-back days, December 12-13?
No matter the outcome, neither the teams nor the stakes will be the same.
“I think it’s going to be some time before we see again that kind of collective talent on the ice, like it was in Duluth last year, for any of these teams,” Stone says. “The playing, the players, the ability out there was tremendous—the best that women’s hockey has seen.”
Like the Crimson, No. 4 Duluth has lost several of its stars from last year, but still maintains a potent squad capable of picking off any team in the country.
“Duluth is still good,” Stone says. “They’re dangerous. They lost a ton of kids like we did, but they still have good goaltending and tremendous forwards.”
Despite the departures, the Bulldogs are still loaded with international Olympians—an American, a Canadian, Finn and Swede—as well as three skaters playing for national under-22 squads.
American senior forward Jenny Potter and Canadian junior forward Caroline Ouellette form the crux of Duluth’s dangerous offensive attack.
Potter, like Ruggiero, is a two-time Olympian, and has taken additional time off due to the birth of her first child. She is a one-woman scoring machine who owns records at her former school, the University of Minnesota, in goals, assists and points in a single season.
Ouellette has proven herself equally potent on offense, leading Team Canada in scoring in the qualifying stages for the 2002 Winter Games.
Senior Satu Kipeli, a defenseman from Team Finland, provides the physical stopping power that propels the back line. A solid two-way player, she placed second among defensemen on the team in scoring last season.
“Potter, Lillette and all their international players—I can’t even keep track of them!” Ruggiero says. “They’re a big, strong, imposing team, too. They’re a physical team, the same as Dartmouth. With Dartmouth and Duluth we know we’re going to get a physical game.”
“I actually enjoy going to Duluth,” McAuliffe says. “I don’t mind taking that trip at all. The crowd we had last year was amazing.”
And chances are, the result will be equally amazing this time around.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.