Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Chris Amell, the new NHS Girl's hockey coach, talks to his team at the start of practice last week at Kreitzberg Arena. The coach is optimistic about this years version of the Lady Ice Marauders. The Northfield Girl's open their season this week at Brattleboro. The Maroon & White Ice Ladies first home game is on Saturday, Dec.19 at 2 p.m. against U-32. The Northfield Girl's hockey team skates out on the ice to open their season this week. The girls have been hard at work at Kreitzberg Arena for the past couple of weeks and despite lots of new faces new coach Chris Amell is pleased with what he has seen. " This season presents lots of challenges. We graduated our top scorers so there will be big shoes to fill but I think we will rise to the challenge. We started out with low numbers but during the first week of practice we picked up six new players and we're waiting to hear on one or two more so that gives us good numbers. Some are new skaters but it's nice to have the numbers, I'm sure they will fit in," the coach said.

One big advantage that Northfield and the rest of the Lake Division share is that three powerhouse teams from the state's only Division II league have moved up to the Metro Division. "This was a big shake up.

It opens everything up," said coach Amell. (Note: Division status is dictated by the number of girls in a program averaged over a three year period and/or overwhelming success in a smaller division.) Colchester, Burr & Burton of Manchester, and Mississquoi have all been moved up to the Div. I league leaving a power vacuum that lots of teams would like to fill.

Coach Amell thinks his team will be in the playoff hunt. On paper we look like an 8th or 9th place team in a 14 team division but I think that with our outstanding goaltender, Steph Morvan and our defensive speed we could realistically be a 5th place team.

The Lady Ice Marauders are strong in goal with Steph Morvan and her backup Renee Guy, a Williamstown student who has played for the Maroon & White the last two years. They are also strong at defense.

"Defensively we are going to be really fast. We are very experienced.

We have very, very quick players. Defensively we are going to be tough," coach Amell said.

The coach named Lindsay Hunt, Kristi Luce, Elana Van Arnham, and Jenna Dorman as players to watch for and for the opposition to look out for over the season.

As for a philosophy, coach Amell referred to the team's philosophy as competitive fun. "We want to have fun but we want to be competitive on a day to day basis. We like to get everybody involved. It's going to be a fun year," he said.

The coach stresses defense and he feels that if you play good defense, offensive opportunities will spring from it. "So far we have stressed defense, I tell the team that when they get into the offensive zone make stuff happen there," he said. But he feels the offense will develop. "Offensively we are very young. It will be up in the air to se how the young players develop offensively," the coach said.

The coach also stressed the importance of fans at the games. "Come out and see us play. We'd like some support and it would help the girls," he said.

The Lady Ice Marauders open this week in Brattleboro and will have five road games under their belt before their home opener at Kreitzberg Arena on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m.