“We’re just trying to make our kids better and stay on those things, and at the same time have them be so excited to come down to the rink every day,” she added. “And I think that’s amazing. They have a blast together, they’re dying to get here every day, and to me, that’s huge.”

It’s clear that Stone, a three-time ECAC Coach of the Year, is widely respected throughout the sport. She was one of three candidates to coach the US women’s Olympic squad in Vancouver and has experience coaching a variety of national teams, from the U-18 squad on up.

Although Stone was ultimately passed over for the Olympic job, it’s clear that she has a passion for the sport as a whole—not just the success of the Harvard program.

“I think there’s been a lot recently on the big divide in women’s hockey, because you get the U.S. and Canada, and then they feel that everybody else is sort of dragging behind,” she said. “Finland, China, Russia, four years ago were not playing that kind of hockey. They just weren’t… And you look at the college game, you look at how competitive it is—three years ago it wasn’t like that. There were plenty of days you could think, ‘Oh, it’s probably going to be okay tonight.’ You can’t go into a game anymore that way.”

There’s no question that Stone is responsible for some of that progress. But for the coach, personal accomplishments have always been the icing on the cake of her team’s success. Her Crimson takes on No. 6 Clarkson in Potsdam, N.Y. on Friday as it continues its march towards that elusive NCAA championship.

“To have all the kids and coaches and administrators [here]—you don’t do this by yourself,” Stone said. “And if it weren’t for their support, it would never happen. But this is for all the kids who played for me and listened to me rant and rave every once in a while. And it’s just, I said to [the team], I was happy that they were all here to be a part of it.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.