 You know this time of the year we usually say well it doesn't feel like hockey season but it's here but this time around it definitely feels like hockey season and it's time to drop the puck. The Beavers women's hockey team is ready to start their season this weekend against the Defending Champs. There will be many familiar faces this year as the team returns eight of its top 10 goal scores, six defensemen and two goalies. It's kind of a comfort to you know you have experience in the net, you have experience back on the blue line and in a group of fours it had some pretty good success last year. The core of the team is its nine sophomores who are highly touted as freshmen last year and now have a year of experience under their belts. Everyone says like going from high school to college there's definitely like the speed of the game like as fast as you are as usually the same but like you have to think a lot faster which makes the game faster so it's nice being able to play into that for a year. Certainly they came in pretty heralded and I thought they lived up to it. All of those players obviously take that experience into this year and just go in with a lot of confidence. Leading the team are its three seniors including captain Melissa Hunt. It's a lot of honor in that role and just really thankful for my team. They were definitely helping me be a leader by them all being leaders so it's great. The team jumps right into the fire this weekend as they open their season with the number one ranked two-time defending champion Clarkson Golden Knights. We know that it's going to be a tremendous, tremendous challenge but you know the the the greater the challenge the bigger the opportunity so that's that's the way we're looking at it. They move the puck well they're always moving and I think if we just go out we're a very fast team go out set the pace and or they set the pace keep up with them and we'll have a good chance. They have championship swagger and they'll come in here with that and and there'll be a tremendous challenge for us. Clarkson returns 17 letter winners from last year as well as their top four scores. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.