“You have to have good goalkeeping...and show up every night,” Stone says. “We want to play the toughest schedule we can...because the more situations we can put our players in, the better they’re going to be down the road.”

“Down the road” will ideally include a ninth trip to the NCAA tournament, and the end to which Bellamy aspires, a national championship.

For Stone, in order to reach that goal, the young netminder needs to develop a sense of confidence, bordering even on overconfidence.

“Goalies have to...play with a little bit of cockiness because that makes them bigger, that makes them more imposing,” Stone says. “She certainly has the skill set to be a Division I goaltender. It’s just a matter of her just...having a little bit of an attitude.”

With a successful freshman season, and the experience that came with it, behind her, Bellamy no doubt has the ability to play with more confidence than she did as a rookie who came onto the ice in the place of a senior star.

But for the team to succeed, Bellamy’s game experience can’t manifest itself in attitude alone—the team now looks to her for leadership as well.

“It’s time to take the leadership role,” Bellamy says. “There are no more questions about what the college hockey world is like, but it’s much more important to produce and win games.”

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.