Cahow grew into her role

Harvard tricaptain a world-class player

C. CAHOW: Living in the moment

When Caitlin Cahow came to Harvard in the autumn of 2003, she was just another prep school hockey player: a good, dependable skater, with some extra speed. She was an all-around athlete who also played field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer at Hotchkiss. The daughter of two Yale Medical School professors, she was a good fit for Harvard's academic demands, too. All in all, she was a solid recruit for Harvard coach Katey Stone.

But there were no expectations she would become a world-class athlete.

Now, the Harvard senior tricaptain is an Olympic bronze medalist, a member of the United States national team, and the linchpin of the top-ranked Crimson squad (32-1-0) that takes on No. 5 Wisconsin in the NCAA semifinals at 6 p.m. today in Duluth, Minn. The two-time defending champion Badgers (28-8-3) eliminated Harvard in last year's quarterfinals in a quadruple-overtime heartbreaker. No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth (32-4-1) plays No. 2 New Hampshire (33-3-1) in the second semifinal.

"[Cahow] wasn't coming in with a reputation," said Stone. "She certainly made one for herself."

Cahow transformed herself from a kid who liked to play hockey into a force. Now she sets the pace for Harvard from the blue line, unless she is playing forward on the power play, where she is second in the nation with 12 power-play goals. When St. Lawrence smothered top scorer Sarah Vaillancourt in the ECAC semifinals, it was a determined Cahow who jumped over the boards and scored a breakway goal in overtime.

Among her honors this year, she was a Patty Kazmaier Award top-10 finalist, named to the All-ECAC first team, a unanimous selection to the All-Ivy first team, and on the ECAC Hockey All-Academic team for the third straight season.

Cahow didn't exactly plan on playing hockey in college; she wanted an Ivy League education and she figured she might play some lacrosse. She narrowed her choices to Dartmouth and Yale. But to appease her stepfather, who had spent some time in Cambridge and was convinced she would like Harvard, she went on one last official recruiting visit.

"I fell in love with it," Cahow said. "After the two days of the visit, I didn't want to leave."

Cahow was a forward who didn't play much in her first year at Harvard, one of four players on the third line. "I wasn't really feeling it," Cahow said.

In the middle of the season, as Stone remembered it, the coaching staff decided Cahow was a better fit on defense. "She seemed to be much more effective there," said Stone, "and then she also had the capability of rushing the puck."

As Cahow remembered it, the Crimson were playing at Princeton, down a defenseman who was sidelined following a concussion. Another defender suffered a concussion during the game, and then Harvard's ace, Angela Ruggiero, got herself tossed.

Assistant coach Claudia Asano, who handled the defense, looked down the bench asked, "Who's played defense?"

"My hand shot up," said Cahow. "I was just excited to get on the ice."

Cahow stayed back on the blue line after that, often paired with Ruggiero.

"This is the highlight of my hockey career at Harvard," she said, "getting to start the national championship game in Providence [in 2004] with Angela. She was a hero of mine and someone I wanted to emulate."

It was not the first time Cahow had recognized better players and tried to raise her game to their level. In high school, she played with the Southern Connecticut Stars, a club team.

"I met girls who were so good," Cahow said. "It made me want to get better. I remember feeling exactly the same thing at Harvard, and then on the national team."

Cahow spent the summer after her freshman year in Minnesota. "My excuse was taking classes at the University of Minnesota," she said. "But I skated constantly. You can skate 24 hours a day in Minnesota. They can play pickup whenever they want. I skated all summer and I suddenly realized what I had been missing."

She became a stronger, leaner, smarter player, one who could change a game. Harvard again reached the national championship game (again losing to Minnesota), and Cahow was named to the All-Tournament team. Then the invitation from USA Hockey arrived.

That summer, she went back to Minnesota, where she worked out with three-time Olympian Jen Potter, whose husband, Rob, is a trainer. "We didn't speak once for the entire summer," said Cahow. "I thought she was just mean at first. Can you imagine training for hours a day with a person and not talking? It was the most difficult thing I've ever done."

Potter, Cahow said, was all business on the ice, the fiercest competitor she had ever met, though she became another person altogether while taking care of her daughter, Madison. It was a revelation for Cahow, who ultimately became fast friends with Potter at the US Festival in August in 2005.

"Just training with her, you felt like it was an Olympic match," said Cahow.

Cahow tries to model that kind of discipline for younger Harvard players, while projecting her passion for the game.

"There are a lot of doubters out here [in Duluth] who think that East Coast hockey is not the real deal," Cahow said. "I went to the Frozen Four my first two years and I thought it was sealed up every year. Then it took us two years to get back here. We have to live in the moment."