The winter sports season has just about come to a close so I thought I would take a look in the rear view mirror and give my reactions to what I thought was a very enjoyable winter. This year was the first time that I covered Northfield High winter sports in depth and it was a tiring but rewarding experience. With four teams to cover there was something going on seemingly every night of the week.

The Northfield High Boy's basketball team had what could have been a disastrous season but the Marauders hung tough, held their heads up high and pulled out a number of victories that they could have just as easily lost. About midway through the campaign several players were dropped from the team for disciplinary reasons and with six games left in the regular season Coach Shaw took a leave of absence to deal with matters having nothing to do with basketball. Junior Varsity coach John Diebold stepped in and did a great job the rest of the way. The boys had to play shorthanded (4 on 5) in several of the last few games but they even managed to pull out a couple of wins with only four players finishing the game. So Hats off to the Boy's basketball team for staying cool in the face of adversity. Lesser men would have crumbled.

Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Emily Martin is one of the key reasons girl's high school basketball won ten games this year. Emily was a nominee for the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportcasters "Female Athlete of the Month" for January. She scored 95 points, had 36 steals, 35 assists and 32 rebounds. It was another great job by Lori Shepard, The girl's basketball coach, this season as she took a young and inexperienced group of girls all the way to the playoffs. All the girls played hard but I would especially like to mention the contributions made by juniors Jackie Susmann and Emily Martin and sophomore Kaitlyn McMullen. This trio led the way for the Lady Marauders all season and Emily was nominated for the January Female Athlete of the Month award by the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters.

This was the first time that I covered High School hockey and once again the efforts of the Northfield High Kids was amazing to watch. The girl's hockey team didn't have a lot of numbers to begin with and then injuries and the flu began to take a toll. The fact that the girls made it to the playoffs is a testament to their effort & perseverance and to the excellent job done by coach Doug Mac- Dougall.

The Boy's hockey team played hard all year but I especially remember two games. Against North Country I saw the hardest hitting high school game that I ever witnessed and against U-32 later in the season I saw the team really come together and show just what a high caliber of hockey they were capable of playing. Hats off to the hockey guys and their excellent coach Paul Clayton.

No recap of this year's winter sports season would be complete without mention of Dick Wobby. Dick acted as an assistant Boy's basketball coach but more than that he created a sports program for b oth hockey and basketball that should be envied by other schools everywhere.

Dick's dedication was unbelievable he not only put the program together just once, he updated it with new features and photos several times throughout the season. I was happy to contribute some photos for the program. I heard from players and fans alike that they really enjoyed and appreciated the program . I think it will become a collectors item.

This was the season that I finally figured out how to use my new camera and I really enjoyed shooting sports action photos.

Once again I would like to congratulate the Northfield fans. They root hard for their Marauders but they do it in a very sportsmanlike manner.

It was a very enjoyable season from my point of view. Northfield is fortunate to have such a great bunch of kids and some terrific adults to lead and guide them.