“No matter who we come against, our team has four solid lines and everyone contributes,” Piper said following the Minnesota victory. “That’s a very positive sign. If you look at the other top four teams, they have two or three solid lines but as a whole team they’re not complete.”

Yet Harvard’s three lines have consistently been more productive than Dartmouth’s four.

Beyond Botterill and Chu on the first line, Harvard’s second line features two of top three returning scorers in the nation from last season in captain Kalen Ingram and sophomore Nicole Corriero. Harvard’s third line could be the first line for many Division I teams.

“I think we match up well with [Dartmouth],” Stone said. “We’re looking forward to it and we’re prepared.”

On the blue line, Dartmouth’s forces received a considerable boost when defenseman Louise Pietrangelo chose not to play with the Canadian Under-22 team this weekend. Pietrangelo has created scoring opportunities against Harvard in past seasons, but she was a nonfactor in the November meeting.

The Crimson is far more experienced than Dartmouth in back with leadership from seniors Pamela Van Reesema, captain Jamie Hagerman, and captain Angela Ruggiero. No defenseman in the country is close to Ruggiero in terms of offensive skills—she’s scored only two fewer goals than all of Harvard’s opponents combined this entire season.

While Harvard’s penalty kill is tops in the nation, Dartmouth’s has been an area of weakness. The Big Green gave up three power play goals in each of its games against Harvard and Minnesota.

Dartmouth has improved in that area, killing 23 of its last 24 penalties, but Oberting knows her team can’t afford to take its typical 14 penalty minutes per game against Harvard’s top-ranked power play.

“We know it’ll be a better game this time around,” Oberting said.

The Crimson feels the same way.

“We have a lot of respect for them,” Botterill said. “We played really well when we played last time, but we know this a whole different setting. Both of us have improved since that point in the season so it should make for a great game.”

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.