HOCKEY PREVIEW 2007-08: Heads of the Class

Just a handful of games into the women’s hockey season, and the members of the Harvard rookie class are already becoming stars.

The Crimson graduated five valuable seniors in 2007, but the Class of 2011 is already filling the void in speed and offensive firepower.

All seven members of the rookie class—Kate Buesser, Katharine Chute, Deborah Conway, Leanna Coskren, Liza Ryabkina, Kylie Stephens, and Ashley Wheeler—took the ice during Harvard’s two-game exhibition series against McGill in late October and showed much of the potential that attracted the attention of head coach Katey Stone during recruiting.

Ryabkina recorded three goals over the course of the weekend, while Coskren assisted two of the weekend’s eight scores.

Two weeks later, the rookies made their collegiate debuts in a big way in a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Quinnipiac in Harvard’s season opener. Buesser got the Crimson on the board by finishing a rebound in the first period, Ryabkina evened the score in the second, and classmate Chute stuffed home the game-winner in the third.

“I expect all of them to make a difference,” Stone says. “A lot of them have great skills. I wouldn’t necessarily single one out at this point since they are all in the same mix, working hard to prove themselves, but we definitely have a lot more depth in a lot of places than we did last year.”

The season is young and so are the freshmen, but signs point to a promising year for the rookie class and for Harvard women’s hockey.

PAY IT FORWARD

The Crimson’s opening weekend featured a top line with Ryabkina and Chute flanking junior Sarah Vaillancourt. The two freshmen looked right at home up front with the Olympian, showing some of the prowess that once made them standouts in high school.

“Right now I’m playing with two freshmen,” Vaillancourt says of her rookie linemates. “I’m excited. Hopefully they can raise the bar for everyone on the team.”

In Ryabkina and Chute, the Crimson has two forwards with a killer combination of speed, stick-handling skills, and immense enthusiasm for the game.

Ryabkina, a native of the Ukraine, began her hockey career playing with a boys’ team and continued until the Ukrainian government literally forbade her to continue.

“At home, there is no women’s hockey at all,” she says. “As soon as I would get on the ice, whistles would blow and I had to leave.”

However, her tour of the U.S. with her home team landed her a spot at the Berkshire School in western Massachusetts where she sharpened her skills for two years in the competitive New England Prep School league.

Now settling into her first year at Harvard, Ryabkina hopes to use her speed and knack for finding the back of the net to help the Crimson while adjusting to a more team-oriented style of play.

“At this level, right now, I understand why you have to play the systems,” she says. “The level of hockey is so high, you can’t do anything by yourself.”

Chute, in contrast to her Ukrainian classmate, is a decidedly homegrown collegiate hockey player. She earned the Associated Press’s Player of the Year honor during her senior year of high school at the Blake School in Minnesota. Chute was a multi-sport star in high school, garnering All-State recognition in both lacrosse and cross country.

A levelheaded player, Chute should bring stability to the Harvard middle and, along with sophomore and fellow Minnesotan Anna McDonald, blazing speed to the forward rotation.

As Ryabkina notes, “Maybe it’s a Minnesota thing, but they are really fast.”

However, the depth of the freshman class at the forward position extends beyond Ryabkina and Chute.

In Buesser, the Crimson has an accomplished New Hampshire native who owns her high school’s scoring record. Conway, one of several Canadians on the team, helped her Toronto-based team to a league title in 2007.

DEPTH AT ‘D’

Coskren and Stephens are only picking up where they left off.

Both 2007 graduates of Noble and Greenough School in nearby Dedham, Mass., are looking to translate the defensive skills that they honed together in high school to the Harvard blue line.

Coskren—a quick, adept defender whose two older brothers currently play on the men’s hockey team—should slide right into the defensive rotation with the returning Crimson starters.

Likewise, Stephens will only add to a Harvard netminding corps that already boasts savvy goaltenders in Brittany Martin and Christina Kessler.

“It’s definitely great to have a good third goalie in practices,” Kessler says. “[Stephens] gets along well with the team, and I think she’s going to find her spot on the team.”

The Crimson will also receive help on the defensive end from Wheeler and Buesser, who is listed as a forward but will chip in on defense. Wheeler is one of several rookies coming from a multi-sport background, as she also played varsity lacrosse and field hockey at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass.

“Wheeler, Buesser, and [Coskren] are very mature players,” Ryabkina says. “Sometimes you play with them and realize [you] just can’t cut through them.”

From senior tri-captain and defensive stalwart Cahow’s perspective, this freshman class is also special in its smooth transition from high school to the college ranks.

“It depends on the year how new players are going to adjust into the program, and it has been seamless with this group of players,” Cahow says. “The work ethic and personality and determination of each player have been the greatest assets.”

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Compton can be reached at compton@fas.harvard.edu.