National Teams Take Two W. Hockey Stars

With the final two regular season games approaching this weekend, the roster for the Harvard women's hockey team has shrunk by two.

Two of the Crimson's most talented and explosive players, both freshmen, defenseman Angela Ruggiero and forward Jennifer Botterill, have temporarily left Harvard to compete in the Women's Hockey World Championships.

This late in the season, when most regular season games really begin to count, most teams would buckle if two of their superstar athletes left to pursue other commitments.

"It was certainly up to both of them," said Head Coach Katey Stone. "I told them both that I would support whatever decision they made. This is what happens when you recruit that kind of talent. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices."

Botterill is the nation's third leading point scorer, and is No. 3 on the Crimson as well. She has already clinched the freshman scoring title in the ECAC with 32 goals and 41 assists.

Not far behind in the point race is Ruggiero--fifth overall--and the top scorer among defensemen in the ECAC.

Even without these two leading point scorers, the Crimson have a host of proven skill and depth ready to step up.

"Botterill and Ruggiero are certainly great players, but we have a lot of great players here," Stone said. "We've been in this situation before, but we've battled back and recovered."

The Crimson narrowly avoided losing two additional players to the World Championships.

Captain A.J. Mleczko, a member of the United States gold-medal women's hockey team in 1998, was asked once again by the National Team to join it in Finland. A three-time member of the squad, Mleczko declined this year.

Sophomore Tammy Shewchuk, who has never played with the Canadian National team, was also offered a spot in the World Championships. Despite the golden opportunity, Shewchuk chose to play for Harvard this weekend.

Mleczko and Shewchuk--Harvard's top point scorers--will stay behind this weekend, and hope to continue to dominate the final regular season games.

Mleczko (27 goals, 67 assists) recently broke two long-standing records.

She shattered the record for most points in a single season, 89, set by current Athletic Director William J. Cleary '56. Cleary set the old mark with 42 goals and 47 assists back in the 1954-55 season.

Mleczko also surpassed Cornell's Cindy Schaepfer for the women's overall single season point scoring record, set in 1976-77 season.

Only Mleczko has tallied more than Shewchuk (40 gl 41a) in the nation. She set a record of her own last weekend factoring in nine of the ten goals Harvard scored against Boston College, in a 10-0 rout.

With five goals and four assists on the night, Shewchuk set a new ECAC and Harvard record for the most points scored in a single game. In addition, she tied a Harvard record for most goals scored in a single game.

The Crimson is definitely not worried about its last two regular season games on the road. Neither Princeton nor Yale has posed a serious threat to Harvard's unbeatable 26-1 record this season. The Crimson beat Yale 8-2 on January 9th, and shut out Princeton the next night, 6-0.

"We're definitely going to feel their loss. We love having them play, and they are an integral part of the team," said sophomore defenseman Julie Rando. "But we're not a team just made up of two players. We're strong and we have many players who are going to step up this weekend."

Harvard is the only ECAC team to clinch a playoff berth, but these games are crucial to winning and Ivy title. To help the Tigers at bay Saturday afternoon, Ruggiero will stay behind to play Princeton.

She'll leave for Finland after the game to rejoin the U.S. National Team.

Botterill has chosen to rejoin the Canadian National Team, and has already left for the annual competition.

With such a crop of talent and skill to choose from, it has been a difficult decision for Stone and others to decide who will be replacing Botterill and Ruggiero this weekend.

Stepping in for Botterill on the first line will be sophomore forward Tara Dunn (17g, 12 a). Dunn has spent considerable time up front this season, and should have no trouble fitting in with Shewchuk and Mleczko.

The choice for replacing the Crimson's aggressive defenseman is not so clear cut. Any member of the defense could fill Ruggiero's skates on Saturday.

"Basically anyone playing defense could move up this weekend," Stone said. "It all depends on who steps up to play that day."

The 1999 World Championships stretches from March 8th until March 14th. Not only does it keep Botterill and Ruggiero away from Harvard for this weekend, but also the first round of the playoffs.

But still, the Crimson is not worried.

"We're not worried about the next few games. We've proven that we can play without key players," Stone said. "We've been doing it all year and we anticipate that we'll do very well."