“I think she’s always led through her example as a player,” Stone says. “And now there’s an opportunity to demonstrate, but also verbalize, to her teammates just how you get to be that successful—the steps you have to take, the sacrifices you have to make, the mental toughness that has to be there in order to achieve some of the things that she’s been able to achieve.”

Stone believes that Ruggiero has one more achievement to add to her and Harvard’s resume.

“I think Angela Ruggiero is going to have the best season she’s ever had in hockey,” Stone says. “She’s ready to help this Harvard program get itself back to a national championship.”

Smells Like Crimson Spirit

Building an equally impressive resume with a different style, co-captain Lauren McAuliffe, a player whose gritty play on the ice is matched only by her finesse as a model teammate in the locker room. McAuliffe steps up in to a leadership role after playing a key role in Harvard’s campaign to the championship.

That role began immediately after Harvard’s nail-biting 4-3 double-overtime loss to Minnesota-Duluth in last season’s championship game.

“Cully was incredibly upset last year, as everyone was,” Stone says. “I think the way she handled it was very captain-like. She was just what you would imagine a leader would be, and so handled it with disappointment but immediately started to focus on the next goal.”

Affectionately called “Cully” by her teammates, McAuliffe, who was lightly recruited out of high school, has become one of Harvard’s most valuable players.

“Cully has been our best utility player since she’s came here,” Stone says. “I can put that kid anywhere because she’s such a smart hockey player. She can play anywhere on a power play, anywhere on a man-down situation, because she just adjusts to the game.”

McAuliffe has since launched herself into the spotlight of women’s ice hockey. She has gone from Harvard’s third line freshman year to her second invitation to the USA Hockey National Team Festival this year.

“Cully is just an incredible story of someone who has just proven everyone wrong,” Stone says. “I think she’s always proven people wrong, that she should be here, that she belongs here in college hockey. And she’s been very successful for us.”

McAuliffe, who hails from North Reading, Mass., also plays for the varsity softball team in the spring, and her determination and dedication paid off in this sport as well—she went from a member of the JV squad for two years to a permanent spot on the varsity team as a walk-on this spring.

Despite these athletic virtues, teammates and coaches alike feel the most appealing part of McAuliffe is her infectious personality.

“She is a great leader because she truly enjoys herself on the ice, and her attitude is contagious,” says fellow senior forward Mina Pell. “Not only is she a talented player, but she has a unique sense of charisma that is unmistakably “Cully!””

McAuliffe keeps things light for her team, helping the other players strike a balance between hockey and the rest of life.