Women's hockey starts season strong

The Norwich Women's Hockey team is ready for the new season posting a 7-1 record in their first eight outings.

This year the Norwich Cadets have eleven new players on their team as they are continuing to dominate in the ECAC, with an impressive start to the season at 7-1. The freshmen especially are thriving on the ice, as well.

Jillyane DeBus a sophomore from Howell, Michigan transferred from Elmira College in New York and now is thriving in Kreitzberg Arena as she just won player of the week, for the ECAC, according to the Norwich athletics website.

The women's hockey team has a large amount of underclassman alongside Debus; this 2010-11 season.

Kelly Fisk, a 19-year-old freshman, majoring in Biology from Hannibal, N.Y. spoke about the importance of the upperclassman.

The upperclassmen on the team are using their experience to help guide the underclassman to a well played season again.

Kelly Fisk is a goalie on the hockey team as well as a freshman and she relies on the upperclassman to show her the ropes.

 Fisk touched upon how the senior goalie, Cindy Fortin, has made an impact on her play throughout the beginning of their season.

"Fortin is a great role model to have around," Fisk said.

Fisk, one of the goalies, alongside, Cindy Fortin and freshman Joanie Plamondon, said, "Cindy is great at helping us out, I am able to see how she [Fortin] reacts to things and does things."

Fisk talked about how the college level is much faster and more demanding from high school hockey On top of that there are more games to be played.

Sarah Scardino, a 23-year-old senior from Stoughton, Mass. and a communications major spoke about how the upperclassman are stepping up their game, so they can lead them to a championship this year.

Last season the Cadets made it to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) National Championship final but they suffered a loss in the finals losing to Amherst College, 7-2, according to the N.U. athletics website.

                Since there are a lot of new faces on the team, the team is still getting used to each other, but on every new team there is different compositions especially when you bring in new players, Scardino believes.

                "Each day at practice it is very competitive and I definitely think that they had a big impact on the team," Scardino said. "I would definitely like to go undefeated in the conference and hopefully make it to the championship game, hopefully win."

                As of now the Cadets are undefeated in their conference.

                The Cadets are ranked number 1 in the conference as of November 30^th and the team.

Most recently the team suffered a loss to Plattsburgh State on December 3^rd at home, making its overall record 8-1, and conference record 6-0