Eagles expect to contend

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

The New Ulm girls hockey team has high expectations this year with many key players returning after a strong season last year.

Last year the team went 18-5-1 and fell short of the repeating as South Central Conference champions.

"We'd like to regain that," coach Todd Nelson said.

The team lost Abby Johnson, Caitlin Nelson and Kelly Anderson to graduation, but with the newcomers and the returning players the coaches feel they can contend.

"We expect to challenge for conference title," assistant coach Dave Kunz said. "We would like to be in top four in the section and if we keep playing like we've been playing, we'll get there."

The team is coming off a number of strong seasons and many players are returning. The team hopes to pick up where they left off.

"We're coming off of 18 wins last year," Kunz said. "We think we have a shot at being one of the top teams in the section."

The offense is relatively intact from last year, which Kunz is excited about. Plus the team's goal tender, Jenny Nebeln, has returned as well. The big questions remain on the defense, where only one player is returning.

"We lost two of our defenders to graduation and one to injury," Kunz said. "But we have three that came up from the youth program and they look like they'll fit in well."

After observing the team through the offseason, preseason and scrimmiges, Nelson says the team will be fine.

"We gained quite a few new players to help us with the loss of seniors," Nelson said. "We have a lot of pontential and we just need to put it all together."

A number of the veteran players continued their training in the offseason by playing in fall leagues and "their game has really stepped it up," according to Kunz.

"I know our seniors have done a lot of work and really stepped it up well," Kunz said "I think they realize this is their last opportunity and they'd like to go out in style.

"Nikki Williams, Tami Cordes, Nicole Nelson Tammy Fortus are returning. They worked hard in the offseason," Kunz said. "Amy Urberg is just in her second year but she's shown some good improvement too."

Even with losses on the defensive side, the team considers the defense one of the team's main strengths.

"With Jenny (Nebeln) in goal, we'll play strong defensively. And we backcheck well, so the defensive aspect of the game is probably our strongest point," Kunz said.

Offensively the team is essentially the same team that put up almost 100 goals last season and they'd like to duplicate that this year.

"We returned most of our offense so we should be able to play as well as if not better than last year," Kunz said.

The inexperience and youth of the squad especially on the defensive side could be a weakness in the beginning of the season, according to Kunz, but they should be ironed out as the season continues.

"We have four players up from the younger team and they're picking up where the four people who left were," Kunz said. "And they should do well."

The team would also like to repeat their performance in the Rochester Christmas tournament.

"We took that tournament. Last year we were champs over Rochester Mayo," Nelson said.

Rochester moved up to AA, according to Nelson. The Eagles are A.

The team will take on Luverne at 7 p.m. at Vogel Arena.