Vaillancourt always flashed signs of greatness—going airborne when breaking past defenders and landing back on her skates, faking out opponents so badly that they fell to the ice, and making scoring moves that brought the crowd to its feet. But they remained flashes for most of the season.

“It’s not about individual efforts anymore. It wasn’t necessarily in the beginning, but that’s how it came off because we weren’t really meshing,” Chu said.

But during the biggest games of the season—the NCAA semifinals and championship game—the first line meshed and Vaillancourt came up big in the clutch. Those who had the opportunity to see Vaillancourt play during the NCAA’s understand just why her adjustment helped make Harvard an instant contender for the title.

“Even though she’s a freshman, and we don’t ask a lot of our freshmen, she asks a lot of herself and puts a lot of pressure on herself to perform,” Stone said. “Now I think the greatest thing for me in the last two weeks is to see how well she’s handled the playoffs, mentally and emotionally.”

Vaillancourt assisted on three of Harvard’s five goals—including the game-winner—in the Crimson’s 5-4 triple overtime victory over Mercyhurst. She then put on a scoring clinic against St. Lawrence on March 28, netting a hat trick in Harvard’s 4-1 victory over the Saints.

And in the NCAA championship game, Vaillancourt scored a power-play goal—assisted by Corriero and Chu—to knot the game at two in the second period.

“Now I think the greatest thing for me in the last two weeks is to see how well [Vaillancourt]’s handled the playoffs, mentally and emotionally,” Stone said. “She’s not pushing too much trying to do things herself. They’re all using each other. Just having a lot of confidence.”

By the end of the NCAA tournament, all three of Harvard’s first-liners had finished with the same scoring production—eight points, averaging 2.67 points per game.

While much attention was paid to the fact that Minnesota’s top line of Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens, and Krissy Wendell was at its end, hardly a thought was given to the end of Harvard’s top trio. Of all the “what ifs” that emerged at the end of the title game, what Harvard might have been with a more fully developed Vaillancourt in its lineup is a compelling thought.

While Corriero has skated in a Crimson jersey for the last time, both Chu and Vaillancourt are set to return next year. And with three years left in Vaillancourt’s young collegiate career, the best is yet to come.

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