Junior goalie EMILY SMITH spends time in the weight room with her teammates at the Murr Center under the supervision of Sean Hayes.

The Harvard women’s hockey team’s No. 1 national ranking and 28-1-1 record has been a tribute to more than just the players on the ice and the coaches behind the bench. In fact, two such people are often sitting in the stands. Though the names Sean Hayes and Jodi Nash are never announced when Harvard scores a goal, they are providing the assists for the Crimson every week in the weight room.

Hayes has been Harvard’s first full-time strength and conditioning coordinator for just over a year, and Nash has been Hayes’ full-time assistant since the summer. Together, the two have worked with coaches to produce sport-specific programs for all 41 Harvard varsity teams. Women’s hockey coach Katey Stone said she recognized from the first moments of practice in October the impact the two would have this year.

“The difference is like night and day,” Stone said. “Our kids are in tremendous shape. They’re strong, they are fit, and they are fast, and it is so much a tribute to what they have done for us.”

The team’s record this season speaks for itself. In school history, no Harvard team has won more games convincingly or used more players regularly.

“It is no coincidence that our most successful season is running parallel to a remodeled weight room and strength staff,” said captain Jamie Hagerman. “I don’t think we could thank Sean and Jodi enough.”

The difference was most apparent in the beginning of the season. The Crimson needed just one weekend to break a school consecutive-day record for goals scored with a 13-0 win over Vermont and a 9-2 thrashing of No. 4 Dartmouth.

A week later, Harvard played its third game of the season against then-No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs, not subject to Ivy scheduling restrictions, had already played 10 games. Nevertheless, the Crimson proved to be in midseason form with a 2-1 triumph over the two-time defending national champions.

“I can safely say that compared to other falls where we have come back to school for preseason for hockey, this fall we were the most prepared we had ever been,” Hagerman said.

While Hayes said his staff does its best to challenge Harvard’s athletes and help them achieve their goals, he is quick to say that the credit belongs to athletes. They are, after all, the ones doing the exercises. Seven players stayed in the area to work out with Hayes during the summer and that work ethic has carried throughout the season.

“The older kids on this team have set the standard on this team—what extra you do to make sure you’re ready,” Stone said. “We’ve had great commitment to our off-ice training.”

Harvard has its most difficult challenges ahead with the ECAC championship at Brown this weekend and the NCAA championship at Duluth the following weekend. Stone recognizes that the strength and conditioning staff deserves credit for preparing her team.

“The benefits of having a full-time strength and conditioning staff at this university is huge,” Stone said at the outset of the season. “That’s 50 percent of what we do. If we’re successful this year, it’s just as much because of them as because of what we’re doing here.”

Work-out Renaissance

Before Hayes, Harvard’s weight programs lacked structure. Team coaching staffs had the duel burden of instructing their players on the field and in the gym.

“When I came to Harvard in the fall of ’99, the weight room was a skeleton of what it is today,” Hagerman said.