The Gustavus Women’s Hockey team looks to follow up NCAA Quarterfinal finish last season with fast beginning

The Gustavus Women’s Hockey team is ready to start the 2009-10 season after a very successful season last year.

Last season, the Gustie women won both the regular-season Conference title and the MIAC Playoffs. By coming in first place, the team won a bid to the NCAA Tournament and ended the season in the quarterfinals against UW-River Falls.

This year’s team is much younger than last season’s squad, which can be a positive and negative aspect for the team.

“We are a lot younger—the majority of players are underclassmen … but we have a lot of speed and shooting ability,” Sophomore Danielle Justice said.

“Our team is very fast, and we have a lot of very talented players. The sky is really the limit for our team,” Senior Captain Melissa Mackley said.

Both the players and Head Coach Mike Carroll are optimistic about the start of a new season.

“I think that there is a lot of excitement about the coming season,” Mackley said.

“All teams are optimistic at the beginning of the season,” Carroll said. “The upperclassmen have stepped up and set the tone for the new players.”

For the past month, the team has been practicing to condition players for the start of another season. “The practices have been going well. They are really up-tempo to get us in shape,” First-year Jenna Christensen said.

In addition to conditioning, practices also help the new players learn how the team operates. “Practices have been at a high pace to prepare us. We’ve been focusing on shooting and helping the [first-years] to learn our systems,” Justice said.

For the new first-year players, playing at the college level is “definitely different than high school. It’s more rigorous,” Christensen said.

The team will play an inter-squad game this weekend in lieu of an Alumni Game that was canceled. “We’re having an inter-squad game this weekend instead. It is like a real game, just with all our own players,” Carroll said.

The season officially opens at UW-River Falls on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m.

River Falls beat the Gusties at the end of last season, so the team is looking for a chance to prove themselves early on. “A lot of the returning players couldn’t ask for a better first opponent. We have to focus on the fact that it’s just one game, that it’s the first game,” Carroll said.

“They are a good team, so we will need to be ready to come out hard. This rematch is what all of our returning players have been working for during the offseason. It should be a great game,” Mackley said.