On the other hand, Harvard comes into the playoffs having only lost three games against ECAC opponents out of 18 games played—two of which the Crimson dropped to the third-seeded Big Green.
Perhaps the most striking discrepancy between Harvard and Cornell is their offensive statistics over the course of the season.
While Ruggiero, junior winger Nicole Corriero, and sophomore Julie Chu all finished in the top 10 in scoring, Cornell has only a single player in the top 100—Jen Munhofen at No. 95.
Harvard’s conference crown also puts it in prime position in the tournament to reach the championship game.
Whereas the Crimson would face the winner of the Brown-Princeton series with a win over Cornell, Dartmouth and fellow conference powerhouse No. 4 St. Lawrence would square off to decide who faces Harvard for the crown and an all but assured spot in the Frozen Four as conference champion—assuming both avoid upsets in previous rounds.
This time they will be looking to follow through and bring the Crimson its first national title since Ruggiero’s freshman year in 1999. In fact, Ruggiero is the only remaining player to have tasted that glory, and leaving her collegiate career on top is her ultimate goal.
“It would mean everything to go out of this place wearing a ring on my finger from this year,” Ruggiero said. “What athlete does not want to leave on top?”
All of the players who returned from last year’s team know that it will take a lot more form this point to finish the season with that ring secured. One year ago, Harvard finished atop the ECAC in the regular season only to fall to Dartmouth in the tournament championship bout.
Now that this year’s players have tasted the first successes of the season, they are hungry for more.
Harvard first faces off today at 7 p.m. at the Bright Hockey Center. The series continues tomorrow at 4 p.m. and Sunday at the same time, if necessary.
—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.