There are plenty of new faces for the Albert Lea 12-and-under girls’ hockey team.

But the expectations are the same.

The locals are looking for another successful season, according to coaches Mike Gordon, Todd Gackstetter and Ed Pomerson, who have been preparing the girls for a 40-game schedule.

The captains are Jenna Christensen, Katie Nelson, and Brittany Osmundson.

Albert Lea also has experience in the nets with Molly Yokiel and Kelli Hanson. A new goalie

is Sage Prihoda, who moved up from the in-house program.

Returning from last year are the three captains, along with Haley Habana, Lauren Draayer, Amy Gackstetter, Jacqui Jepson, Sophia Jepson, and Adison Wangen.

New players include Prihoda, Amanda Hanson, Ashton Larson, Erin Shahan, Morgan Walton and Nicole Wilson.

The locals have played two scrimmages, beating Austin 4-1 in the opener. All three goalies played a period and did a nice job, allowing one goal and making several nice stops on breakaways. Scoring for Albert Lea were Amy Gackstetter, Christensen, Nelson and Osmundson. Getting assists were Christensen, Nelson and Habana. Playing strong on defense were Habana, Jepson and Walton.

The girls traveled to Kasson and played to a 3-3 tie. Christensen started the scoring on a breakaway with Nelson getting the assist. Kasson scored the next two goals to take the lead. Draayer got her first goal of the year on a nice assist from Osmundson and Wangen. With the scored tied, Christensen scored her second goal to give Albert Lea the lead. Kasson tied it to end the scoring. Prihoda was in goal for the entire game and played very strong. On defense, Walton, Nelson and Habana played very strong and kept the puck in the offensive end for most of the third period.