Boe first proved her worth while preserving a 2-2 tie against Minnesota-Duluth in December, the Crimson’s first near-falter. The next day Harvard avenged its national title loss to the Bulldogs with a 7-2 victory.

A month later Harvard dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker to rival Dartmouth—one of only two teams the Crimson was unable to top this season. Falling to Princeton 6-3 in its next game gave Harvard the wake-up call it needed to march on to Providence. The team captured its sixth straight Beanpot Championship and rose to the No. 1 rank in February.

The Crimson was humbled in an emotional 3-2 bout at Dartmouth that saw Ruggiero receive a game misconduct late in the second period. The incident, however, had a rally effect on the team, highlighted by the selfless play of sophomore Julie Chu, who switched to defenseman in Ruggiero’s absence. Harvard staged a third period comeback before ultimately falling to the Big Green.

After capturing its third ECAC regular season title, Harvard swept into the playoffs before struggling to a double-overtime win against Brown in the conference semifinals. Junior Ashley Banfield suffered a concussion in the first overtime, but the team rallied to victory when freshman Katie Johnston scored the game-winner—the second time this season she had put away the Bears in an extra period.

The following day Harvard defeated St. Lawrence, 6-1, to capture the second ECAC tournament championship in program history.

The Crimson entered the Frozen Four ranked No. 2 and defeated the Saints for the fourth straight time, 2-1, to advance to the championship against Minnesota, where McAuliffe, Ruggiero and Mina Pell donned the Harvard jersey one final time.

“The toughest thing for me at the end of a season is to know that it’s not the caliber of player, it’s the caliber of their character that I will miss most,” Stone said at the team’s final press conference.

Throughout the season, the Crimson brought a banner bearing its motto, “Team First,” to its locker room wherever it went, except for the championship weekend in Providence. Thanks to the leadership of its three seniors, the team’s success on and off the ice had already proven that the reminder was no longer necessary.

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