Ruggiero, 31, a star player on all four U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Teams to date, won a gold medal in 1998 as the youngest member (18 years old) of the team; a silver medal in 2002 where she was named the tournament's top defenseman; a bronze medal in 2006 where she tied for the lead among tournament defensemen with six points (2-4) and was named the tournament's top defenseman for a second time; and another silver medal at the 2010 Olympics where she was named to the media all-star team.

Ruggiero, who was the top-ranked female hockey player in the world by The Hockey News in 2003, represented Team USA in 10 IIHF Women's World Championships (gold-2005, 2008-09, 2011; silver-1997, 1999-01, 2004, 2007). In 2005, she scored the shootout goal that gave Team USA its first-ever gold medal in the IIHF Women's World Championship. She was named the tournament's top defenseman four times (2001, 2004-05, 2008) and earned a spot on the media all-star team on four occasions (2004-05, 2007, 2009).

USA Hockey's Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004, Ruggiero graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in government. She was an NCAA First Team Academic All-American in 2004 and also earned the NCAA's Top VIII Award that year as one of the top eight student-athletes in the entire NCAA. ESPN.com also named her one of the top-16 female athletes in the world in 2004.

Ruggiero accumulated 253 points (96-157) in her four-year career (1998-2000/2002-04) at Harvard to rank sixth all-time at the University and first among defensemen. The four-time NCAA All-American captured the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2004, an honor bestowed annually on the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey. Ruggiero was a finalist for the honor in each of her four collegiate campaigns.