Harvard University

Melanie Ruzzi recently completed her third season as anassistant coach with Harvard’s women’s hockeyprogram.

In her first year with the Crimson, Harvard earned a berth at theFrozen Four and won 21 straight games, setting an NCAArecord.  The team  also captured Beanpot, Ivy League,ECAC Hockey regular-season and ECAC Hockey tournament titles,finishing with a 32-2-0 overall record and a 22-0-0 ECAC Hockeymark.

Harvard followed with its second straight ECAC Hockeyregular-season and Ivy League titles in 2008-09.  The Crimsononce again earned the top seed in the ECAC Hockey tournament andposted a 16-4-2 conference record.

During the 2009-10 season, Ruzzi helped the Crimson return to theNCAA postseason for the eighth time in program history. Harvardalso grabbed its 13th Beanpot title, winning the crown at BrightHockey Center.

Ruzzi came to Harvard after spending two seasons as an assistantcoach at Amherst, where she worked directly with all aspects of theJeff program. On the ice, she worked primarily with theteam’s defensemen in skill development and gamemanagement.

She helped Amherst reach the semifinal round of the 2007 NCAADivision III tournament. The Jeffs won their first NESCACchampionship and finished 20-7-3, including a 22-game stretch withjust one loss (18-1-3).

Ruzzi was a standout player at Providence as an undergraduate. Shehelped the Friars to an ECAC East championship in 2002 and HockeyEast regular-season and tournament titles in 2003. She served ascaptain of the 2002-03 team, was presented with the team’sCoaches Award and was an honorable mention All-Hockey Eastselection.

Ruzzi graduated magna cum laude from Providence in 2003, earning abachelor’s degree in finance. She earned a master’sdegree in sport management from Massachusetts in 2007.