Crimson Hot Shot Fires Away

Eavesdrop on Jennifer Raimondi’s teammates, and you would think they were talking about Fulton Reed—the rebellious, slap-shooting teenager from The Mighty Ducks—and not the Harvard women’s ice hockey sophomore.

It’s not because Raimondi shares Reed’s notorious bad-boy attitude, or has similarly wild, untamed skills, or lacks the ability to skate.

Just talk to them long enough, and they’ll tell you: It’s that shot.

“Her shot is unreal,” says co-captain defenseman Angela Ruggiero.

Judging by the early scouting reports, the Harvard women’s hockey team has every reason to anticipate a big year from Raimondi.

The Crimson is relying on underclassmen such as Raimondi to step up and help bring Harvard what it barely missed in 2003—a national championship.

The Girl with the Golden Stick

So, what about that shot?

“From one of the first scrimmages we had last year, she stood out to me as a sniper,” says junior forward Nicole Corriero. “A strong, powerful forward who could come down the ice and pick the corner.”

Ruggiero likens the harnessed power of Raimondi’s stick to the comparative advantage of using an aluminum bat in baseball.

“She got a Synergy,” Ruggiero said, referring to the carbon-composite model of hockey sticks. “It doesn’t give as much, so it’s harder to stick-handle, but your shot is improved. Once you can get control of it, the puck just snaps right off. If you can control that, like if you can get a good slap-shot off, it just flies.”

And controlled it Raimondi has. So much so that several team members are predicting this year as Raimondi’s breakout season.

“Jen Raimondi is one of the players to look out for,” says co-captain forward Lauren McAuliffe. “She’s got one of the best shots of the team, with an awesome release. I predict she’s going to score a ton of goals this year.”

“It’s like she went in the backyard all summer and shot pucks in the driveway,” says Ruggiero, complementing her ability to rip pucks into the top-right corner. “That’s what you’re told to do when you’re younger, but I think she actually did it. Her shot’s improved a ton, and she’s just a big strong hockey player. If she can utilize that strength better, she’ll be one of the top scorers this year.”

Raimondi, on the other hand, very modestly attributes the majority of any success she expects this season to old-fashioned hard work.

Plagued by a nagging back injury throughout last season, she feels that she’s now back at a level greater than full strength and credits a rigorous off-season training program for the improvement.

Her coach, and teammates agree.

“The summer is a great time to take your game to the next level,” says Raimondi. “It doesn’t have to be on the ice, either…I took the training program that the team gets and made it a part of my daily routine. I don’t know if [my shot] is something new, or if it’s just having a new confidence with the puck as a sophomore versus a freshman. I think it ultimately depends, though, on where the luck falls.”

Either way—luck or skill—Raimondi’s teammates are behind her with full confidence.

“Ability-wise, it’s awesome. You can definitely tell she’s in better shape, that she has gotten stronger,” says junior forward Kat Sweet. “She’ll step it up, and be a leader. She’s in for a huge year—we lost so much offensive push last year that she needs to be.”

Carrying That Weight

The offensive push to which Sweet refers comes in the form of five seniors that Harvard coach Katey Stone calls the best class she’s ever graduated, as a whole.

This season, the team knows that it’s going to have to rely heavily on underclassmen to step up and help carry a bigger part of the load—on offense, especially. Raimondi is one of those underclassmen.

“We’re definitely going to need Jen to take a bigger role with the three forwards we lost who were seniors,” Corriero says. “We lost that scoring power and need to replace that, and Jen is going to be one of the players who we turn to.”

Raimondi, though, is ready for the challenge, and eagerly awaits the opportunity to develop further and negate that void.

“We have holes to fill, I know,” says Raimondi. “I need to step up, but I don’t see it as pressure. It’s an opportunity to showcase what I have inside me, and do what I need to do for the team, to have us all working together for each other.”

Raimondi only had her name seriously called a few times last season, but in those instances she’s done exactly what she has said she will this year: step up.

Against Maine, Stone moved Raimondi up to join Harvard’s starting five—which included captain Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03, Sweet, freshman Julie Chu, and Ruggiero—and the freshman responded by netting two picturesque goals.

In last season’s 4-3 double-overtime defeat in the National Championship, Raimondi was called upon again. This time, she responded by nearly scoring twice in the overtime period.

“We had played two lines most of the game,” Sweet said. “She hadn’t gotten a chance to get in up until then, but coach suddenly decides to put her in towards the end, and she almost scored. It was amazing.”

“She had a very good freshman year last year and a great end to the season,” Stone says. “To have played critical minutes of a national championship game will just carry over in her game in her confidence. She’s going to do whatever we need to do. It should be fun to watch her.”

Raimondi, however, was by no means satisfied by the experience.

“It’s a big game, we had an opportunity, and we didn’t finish that chance,” Raimondi said. “What I look for as a player is to have that chance again. I know now what it means to compete on that level.”

“I’ve learned from such great, experienced players in our seniors last year,” she adds. “They taught me what it means to be a competitor and be a hockey player on and off the ice.”

Power Playing

The question, then, is exactly how the 5’9 native of British Columbia will be used.

Stone has specific outlined plans, but still anticipates watching the true emergence of Raimondi—and doesn’t stop herself from making a few predictions of her own.

“I’m anxious to see how Jen Raimondi is going to do,” Stone says. “I think she did a lot of great things for us last year, really transitioned [from high school] well…I think that kid’s going to be a great college hockey play. I’m looking forward to seeing her development.”

Stone says that this season, Raimondi—who played wing most of last season—will most likely find herself at the center position, a niche that she only truly came into towards the end of the year and during that national championship effort.

“We’re putting her right back there,” Stone says. “She’s probably going to play center, unless she’s on some special teams, in which case she’d end up playing as a wing. She’s a power forward, just coming down the wing—strong, great shot.”

And it is that array of skills—of power, strength and size, most notably—that will give the team more flexibility than before.

“She’s got a lot of abilities, a lot of weapons,” Stone says. “We’re going to be able to use her in some different spots because of [them], so I’m looking forward to it.”

Raimondi concurs.

“I’m going to have a bigger role on the team, as opposed to last, I know,” she says. “Maybe the team will look for more production, more leadership on the ice. I’m really excited about this year, the opportunities for line combinations and how it’s all going to flow. It’s endless, the big opportunities.”

And in addition to her mighty stick, Raimondi knows well how make the best of those opportunities for the Crimson—how exactly to put the “power” in “power forward.”

“I’m a little bigger,” Raimondi explains. “My size as a forward, 5’9, is not too common in women’s hockey. I’ll be going into the corners, you know, to mix it up—I’ll be using my body to protect the puck.”

And she has that rocket of a slapshot?

Fulton Reed—just like her coaches and teammates—would be proud.