“It’s going to take two great hockey games,” Stone said. “They’re going to be different and each period’s going to be a bit different and we’re going to have to find a way to win.”

Harvard will need all of its newfound endurance and more when it takes the ice at New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, a rink—at 100 feet in width—about 10 feet wider than the Crimson is used to.

“All four teams have not played on a big sheet all year,” Stone said. “We’re all in the same boat and it’ll test to see how everyone adjusts to it.”

The rink at the Whittemore Center, however, opened as a state-of-the-art arena in 1995, is not the exact one Stone played on.

“When I played it was Snively Arena, so it’s a bit different,” Stone said. “It’s not the same deal as if you’re going back to where you played.”

The ice is not the only thing that has changed in 16 years. At 226 victories, Stone is the winningest coach in Harvard history and the one of only three to reach the 200-win plateau in Division I history.

This season, Stone is looking for a new crown to add to her mantelpiece, already adorned with the 1999 AWCHA national championship from a squad that posted a remarkable 33-1 record and knocked off New Hampshire in the title game.

Without the same number of weapons as some years past, and given the adversity the Crimson was forced to overcome in the early going, many observers consider this season Stone’s finest coaching effort.

“Kids have to respond to coaches and these kids answered the call when I asked them to,” Stone said. “And I think that’s the reason why we’ve had the success we’ve had in 2005.”

She was honored with the ECAC Coach of the Year Award, picking up her third Ivy League title, fourth ECAC regular season crown, third ECAC tournament title, and seventh Beanpot.

With a little home cooking, Stone just might add an NCAA championship to her resume.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.