In late August, the goaltender was named to the Canada U-22 team for a series of games against the United States.

“Last year, I played away from home,” Maschmeyer says. “I played on a junior men’s team, Lloydminster, so I think for me the transition [to college] wasn’t as hard.”

Crugnale and Harvey both found the transition to ECAC play to be smoother because of their high school experiences. Attending the North American Hockey Academy, Crugnale’s academics have consistently been mixed in with large amounts of time on the ice.

Harvey, on the other hand, lived nowhere near where she played. The forward from Norfolk, N.Y. travelled to Canada four times a week just to play for the PWHL’s Ottawa Senators.

“I knew that the best hockey was in Canada, and that’s what I had to do to get to the next level,” Harvey says. “It was pretty rough on my mom and me to go to Canada all of the time, but it was worth it.”

That same kind of drive to excel will be key to Harvard’s success this season.

“Stepping onto the ice for the first time with a Harvard jersey on, that’ll be pretty amazing,” Harvey says.

—Staff writer Claire K. Dailey can be reached at ckdailey@college.harvard.edu.