You can see it in the way she skates in practice and in games. Her posture is slightly hunched but poised, the perfect silhouette of a weary warrior.

When McAuliffe skates, you can tell she’s going her hardest. When she misses an opportunity, you can feel her disappointment. The way she conveys her emotions, you almost feel you’ve taken a part in the score after she celebrates a goal with her linemates.

“She has been completely instrumental in how well we’ve done this season because I feel like a lot of the times I’m more serious sometimes and we sort of take turns,” Ruggiero said. “People look to her as a leader, without a doubt. She’s prepared herself. She’s really elevated her game so much. People try to emulate her as a hockey player, but more importantly as a person. She has such a good time with life.”

In short, she wears her heart on her sleeve on and off the ice, and her teammates are all the better for it.

McAuliffe revealed the example she sets for the team when recalling the contrast between the NHL and how she plays—and expects her teammates to play—college hockey.

“I watched the Bruins-Rangers game the other day. Just to see these guys paid millions of dollars to play so many games a week—it was just uninspired. Not that their intentions are wrong, but I think they just get burnt out when they’re professionals,” she said.

“They could lose their inspiration and their heart and still get the paycheck. We don’t have that choice. Either we love it or we won’t play.”

Luckily for Harvard, McAuliffe has loved every moment of the past four years.

“The kids make fun of me. I’ll go to my teammates—I’ll say ‘this is my last practice on a Monday at the Bright Arena...ever.’ I tease them, but I really get emotional about it just because it’s been such an amazing experience.”

Perhaps McAuliffe will realize her true impact on the team and Harvard hockey when her teammates are given the opportunity to show their appreciation this weekend, when, win or lose, McAuliffe’s inspired college hockey career will at last come to an end.

Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.