“We made a conscious decision that this year will be better, we’re going to go undefeated in 2005,” Banfield says. “Looking back to November when no one thought we would make it this far, when everyone was turning their heads and laughing if you ever thought Harvard was making the NCAA tournament. And we proved them wrong. And that’s what our team is about—thriving in challenge.”
It’s that element of Harvard hockey—facing adversity head-on—that both Banfield and Corriero fully embody. Along with tri-captain Kat Sweet and seniors Ali Crum and Sarah Holbrook, they were initiated into Harvard hockey via trial by ordeal, seeing more action than usual their freshmen season when the Olympians took the year off to train.
The next season, they dutifully took role-player positions, ceding to the returning players for the good of the team. Corriero posted 62 points—second in the nation—her freshman year, only to see a drop in her own output as that of the team’s rose.
But when the Crimson was looking for an answer on offense this season, Corriero didn’t just rise to the occasion—she soared to new heights.
And how does she react to being left off the list of three Kazmaier finalists?
“I never thought I’d win the award so to be put in the top three is an unneeded distraction for us at the point,” Corriero says.
The most important thing for us is winning this weekend and winning the next two games after that,” she adds. “If it might be a hindrance to that, then I don’t want it.”
It might seem strange to some, or even a bit insincere, but both Banfield and Corriero are genuine about their loyalty to Harvard, because intertwined with that loyalty is their long friendship, as well as those with their teammates.
“There’s something amazing about Harvard hockey that the team lives on beyond the season and beyond even graduation,” Corriero says. “Harvard hockey is more than just a bunch of people playing hockey together. It’s an attitude. It’s a family. It’s just so awesome to be a part of.”
Without competing allegiances to national or Olympic teams, these final games are likely the last in the playing careers of Banfield and Corriero.
Having gone through it all, there’s nothing either the two would have done differently.
“That’s the beauty of it,” Corriero says. “That’s why I’m able to come to the decision that this is probably my last year of hockey. It’s the perfect end to a pretty fine career.”
—Staff writer John R. Hein can be reached at hein@fas.harvard.edu.