It took a little while to get the action going, but once it did, the Eau Claire/Altoona girls’ hockey team – and Erin Stenseth in particular – had little difficulty putting the puck in the net as they defeated New Richmond 7-4 in their season opener on Saturday, November 24.

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After a solid 12-9-1 inaugural campaign a year ago, the Eau Claire/Altoona girls’ high school hockey program is preparing for the second season in team history this winter. Losing only two seniors from that team, the ECA Stars are hoping to build off of last year’s experience.

“(Having a year behind us is) a huge advantage from the standpoint of the girls knowing my system,” said coach Bart Steffen. “Last year, it was starting from scratch. It lessens the learning curve for the younger girls to see other girls out there, how they’re doing things.”

There are plenty of younger girls. Although the Stars lost just two seniors – Kara Turtinen and Altoona product Sarin Strobush – the roster features 15 freshmen this season.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how they handle the pace and the change from U-14 games,” said Steffen.

Among the returnees are leading scorers Erin Stenseth (21 goals, 10 assists in 2006-2007) and Aly Lund (14 goals, 11 assists), but the Stars will have to replace goaltender Strobush, who started the majority of the team’s games last year. Replacing Strobush in the net will be Kersten Greene, who started several games a year ago, and Sarah Hammes-Murray.

“At this point, we’re still up in the air, who we’re going to go with,” said Steffen.

After the loss of Strobush and other players not returning, the Stars will have four Altoona players this season: Shelby Davis, Kateri Hanson, Tianna Ohren, and Cassie Rosemore. The rest of the roster consists of players from Eau Claire North and Eau Claire Memorial.

Although this will be the Stars’ second year of play, it will be their first time playing in a conference. The Big Rivers Conference will sanction girls’ hockey this year, making it the first conference in the state to do so. In addition to the Stars, the conference will also include Chippewa Falls, Menomonie, Hudson, and St. Croix Valley, which is based in River Falls.

“It will be fun to go out and compete in that,” said Steffen. “It’s going to be tough. To me, it’s up in the air; all five schools involved will have a shot. It’s going to be a battle.”

The Stars open play on Saturday, November 24, against New Richmond at Hobbs Arena in Eau Claire. They face Viroqua at home in Altoona on Thursday, November 29, and Superior in Eau Claire on Saturday, December 1, before opening conference play at Chippewa Falls on Tuesday, December 4. As they did last year, the team will practice and play home games in both Altoona and Eau Claire.

“We just want to compete at a high level, go out there and give ourselves a chance to win, and have fun,” said Steffen. “They’re the same goals as last year. We want to compete with the top teams in the state.”