The number 4 has been special to Ruggiero. It has been her number with the U.S. National team program. When she came to Harvard, she did everything she could to get it.

“I wanted to be 4 coming into Harvard, but Jamie Notman ’01 wore No. 4,” Ruggiero recalls. “And I asked her—I even offered her money—but she wanted No. 4 for what was my freshman and sophomore years. As soon as she graduated, I was like, ‘coach, you’ve got to reserve four for me!’”

Now that she has donned the Harvard jersey for a final time, the No. 4 hanging in the rafters will have another meaning for members of the women’s hockey team who have been looking up to Ruggiero the past six years.

“I spoke at the Visiting Committee on Athletics and Bill Cleary was in the audience,” she says. “I had to reflect on my Harvard career, and I joked about having my number already retired. I was like, ‘oh wait a second that’s yours!’”

All joking aside, Ruggiero is proud that her fondest accomplishment from her senior year will be put up to the rafters—capturing the ECAC championship.

“A championship is a championship. It’s also pretty cool that it’s the first time a men’s and women’s team won the ECAC in the same year,” she says. “Those banners—you actually get you’re class year up there. It’s nice for me as a senior—for Mina Pell and Lauren McAuliffe—to have our stamp on those banners. They’ll be up forever.”

And if seeing Ruggiero’s number and class year isn’t enough, don’t forget she’ll still try to make it back to Bright to see her old teammates as often as possible.

“I won’t be with them next year on the ice and in the locker room but just to show them my support from the stands—I love being a fan of a team that you know really well, that you follow a lot,” she says. “That’s how people become obsessed with teams—you feel like you’ve become a part of them. It’s amplified if you’ve actually been on that team. When you’re on the ice you’re calm and collective. I’m kind of looking forward to being a stress case in the stands!”

Ruggiero’s plans embrace the spirit of “Team First” that she worked so hard and successfully to instill in her teammates.

“The great thing about our team is that it extends far beyond just the practices and games,” Corriero says. “We’re a family on and off the ice, and continue to be, whether we’re a freshman, a senior, four years out of college or six years out of college. Though the season may be over, the team lives on, and Ang will be another great example of that next year.”

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