“Dartmouth’s no different,” she adds. “Their elite level of players tends to rub off on the others. It raises the bar for everyone.”

In addition to Ruggiero and Chu, Stone has also been fortunate enough to coach U.S. Olympians Sandra Whyte ’92 and A.J. Mleczko ’97-‘99 as well as Canadian Olympians Tammy Shewchuk ’00-‘01 and Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03.

Hudak, however, acknowledges an undeniable downside to his players serving national team duty—one that, as of right now, will restrict Apps and Piper from competing in the Frozen Four.

“Despite all those benefits, they’ve got to leave a couple times,” he says. “It creates havoc and you have to change line-ups; the other members of the team lose that ability to rely on them to help get things done.”

A Pair of Eh’ses

Nevertheless, the Canadian duo of Piper and Apps poses an Olympic tandem that the Crimson does not often see from opponents, especially not in the ECAC.

The experienced Stone, however, welcomes the challenge with open arms, relishing the opportunity.

“We’ve already faced that [brand of talent] in Minnesota-Duluth with [senior forward] Jenny Potter and [junior forward] Caroline Ouellette,” she says.

“The fact is that we want to play against the best players, and play against the best teams who come ready to play us,” Stone continues. “That’s where the challenge is.” Harvard will opt to stick to the game-plan which has worked against each of the top-tier opponents they’ve encountered thus far.

“We’re going to adjust a little bit come game-time,” Stone says, “but the approach takes place before they get into primary scoring area. It’s going to be about rebounds: controlling rebounds, and dominating the possession game.”

But Stone knows not to take anything for granted against a Dartmouth program that has bounced the Crimson out of the ECAC tournament in each of the past four years.

“When you play against a really good team, the question becomes, ‘How do you take care of the puck and gain control of every situation?’” she says. “We’re going to try to take what they give us.”

Hudak will answer in kind, calling often upon the pair of Apps and Piper to lead The Big Green assault against the nation’s top-ranked defense and the country’s most stingy goaltender in sophomore Ali Boe.

“Piper can really control the pace of the game when she can get the puck on either hand,” Hudak says. “She’s a very smart hockey player, and will settle things down for us if we’re running around a little bit on defense or on offense.”

“Gillian, on the other hand, is the quintessential power forward: big, strong, and can fire the puck,” Hudak continues. “She’s really dangerous when she’s in front of the net with loose pucks. They both force another person to come off and watch them and be concerned.”