The squads last met in the Crimson's 6-1 NCAA semifinal victory last season in Duluth, Minn.

The Golden Gophers have held onto the No. 1 spot for most of the regular season, losing it briefly to Dartmouth and Harvard on separate occasions.

Minnesota-Duluth was the only other team to crack into the top spot, but did so in preseason polls.

Tomorrow night's contest will also feature two teams who play a similar game—an open-ice style often referred to as European hockey. Both teams bring two U.S. Olympians— the Crimson's Ruggiero and sophomore Julie Chu and Minnesota's Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz—as well as a great deal of both speed and depth.

"Their team as a whole is pretty fast," Ruggiero said. "From what I've seen and the players that I know...you have to look them square in the chest and they're very good with the puck, so you can't get mesmerized."

"Everyone [from Harvard] is kind of big compared to our team," Wendell said. "Our speed is one of our strengths, and I think we match up well against them."

Despite the star players each team boasts, neither the Golden Gophers nor the Crimson plan to shadow any one player but rather focus on the entire line shift by shift.

"We will be very aware of when [Ruggiero] is on the ice and where she is," Halldorson said. "She is a defenseman only in name, I believe.

"We have played a lot of teams with great players—the team that is coming to mind is Duluth. We don't do anything special but just be aware of them and take away their time and space."

Harvard agreed, noting a similar approach to Minnesota.

"We've played some pretty good teams this year with some great players: Dartmouth, [Minnesota] Duluth, St. Lawrence," Stone said. "It's really going to be up to us to decide how this thing goes and to continue to pressure as much as we can.

"You give anybody time and space and they look pretty good, so we're going to try to take that away."

"We've never emphasized one player, one line—we just play our game," Ruggiero said. "I'm sure I'll be more alert when Krissy [Wendell] and Natalie [Darwitz] are out there, a little more defensive-minded."

Though most predict a low-scoring game because of the Crimson's stifling defense and the Golden Gophers’ tendency not to make mistakes, Wendell said she expects "a lot of odd-man rushes and a lot of up-and-down hockey."

Whatever uncertainties may surround the game, Harvard plans to treat it just like another day at Bright Hockey Center.