This selfless play led to what Ruggiero calls the most fun she has ever had with a team.

“Even though I was older than the players, I feel as though socially everyone was happy and worked so hard and really did anything for the sake of the team, which is very rare in sports,” she says. “When you can come across a team where people did anything and everything they could to see the team succeed regardless if it was short of what they wanted to do—if they had to sit a shift because someone else needed to play or those sort of acts—it’s always a joy to play on a team like that, and this was truly one of those.”

Without the high expectations of one year ago, a lighter mood set in that added to an already strong team unity.

“Each and every year there’s a unique dynamic to the team. We’re always strong and have good chemistry,” sophomore Jennifer Raimondi says. “But this year, there was less pressure on us to win. People wrote us off right at the beginning, and that sort of brought us together.”

The Crimson credits their close bonds off the ice with their unheralded success on the frozen stage.

”When you’re playing for the player beside you, you’re going to put forth a greater effort, than if you’re just playing for yourself,” junior Nicole Corriero says.

In fact, the Crimson traveled with a banner bearing the team motto, “Team First,” for most of the season.

“It was a reminder for us that the team is bigger than the individual,” Raimondi says. “On one level you play for yourself and for the experience, but ultimately for the team’s success. That’s more rewarding in the end.”

While the entire team embraced the “Team First” mentality, Harvard’s seniors—Ruggiero especially—embodied the ideal both on and off the ice.

Raimondi recounts how Ruggiero often set the standard of behavior in the locker room.

“There are times when Ang is keeping it light, like when we’re singing songs in the locker room,” she says. “When the team song comes on (Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”), she’s the first person singing and dancing, putting on a theatrical performance for the team. Enrique Iglesias comes on—watch out! Ang is in the moment. She has a soft spot for Enrique. ‘Escape’ is a good one.”

But Ruggiero’s off-ice abilities aren’t limited to singing and dancing.

“She can fire us up. She has this uncanny ability to just understand us and read our scattered brains,” Raimondi says.

“One memory I have of Angela is a speech she gave to the team last year before our game against UNH,” Corriero says. “Prior to that game we played well, but by no means up to our full potential. Ang challenged us to play to our potential, and the team responded by playing the best game of our season, and beating the No. 5 team 7-1.”

4 LOVE OF SPORT