By GABRIEL M. VELEZ

Crimson Staff Writer

Every team tries to reach its peak by the end of the season and the playoffs when the games matter the most.

The Harvard women’s hockey team really learned the importance of that maturation that season as they overcame historic losses and a four-game losing streak to become the best team in the East by the season’s end.

At the beginning of the year, Crimson coach Katey Stone knew that the team would take time to develop and emphasized that the before pre-Christmas schedule would prove to be one of the roughest that Harvard has seen in years.

After cruising against conference foes Cornell and Colgate, the Crimson ran straight into trouble as it tied Providence 2-2 and then lost for the first time in over 20 years to Yale by a score of 3-2.

As the Bulldogs showed with Sarah Love’s impressive 48 saves for the win, having a consistent force in between the pipes can mean everything for a hockey team.

At the time, Harvard’s goaltending situation was still up in the air as sophomore Emily Vitt and junior Ali Boe traded starts in net.

Perhaps one of the biggest wins of the early season, the Crimson welcomed No. 6 St. Lawrence into Bright on Nov. 19th and then sent them packing with an overwhelming 5-1 defeat.

This win, the biggest of a four-game win streak, created some momentum at the perfect time as the Harvard Shootout approached.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, Harvard’s defense could not keep up to par and gave up 11 goals in two games to WCHA opponents as the Crimson fell to No. 1 Minnesota 5-3 and No. 5 Wisconsin 6-4.

No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth came in town next and kept up the onslaught, running over Harvard 6-3 in the first game.

The Crimson made it close in the second and even seemed on the verge of the upset before Caroline Ouellette scored the game winner in overtime.

The low point of the season came right before the Christmas break as it seemed the tough Western competition had knocked Harvard out of its rhythm. In the final game of 2004, the Crimson fell in a tightly fought contest up in Durham to UNH by a score of 2-1.

Nevertheless, the break for the holidays, New Year’s Day and finals breathed new life into Harvard.