ORONO – Good morning, Maine, and Merry Christmas from your NCAA Division I field hockey program.

Three shining stars light up our sports Christmas tree today, directing a bright holiday glow toward the University of Maine Black Bears.

On Dec. 27, three representatives of the North Atlantic Conference semifinalist team will be at the United States Field Hockey Elite Camp in Rutgers, N.J. They are junior goalkeeper Mary Lou Winstel, Coach Terry Kix and assistant coach Diane Madl.

Kix and Madl are no strangers to the national program which leads to selection of the U.S. National team, the U.S. Olympic team and teams for the National Sports Festival.

But this is the thrill of a lifetime for Winstel, who received the best Christmas present ever when she was invited to the camp as one of the top 100 players among 1,500 in Division I.

Kix, a former All-American from the University of Connecticut and former member of the U.S. Under-21 team, was a goalkeeper coach for the Olympic team. She will serve as a voluntary goalkeeper coach with Shelley Behrends of Northeastern University.

Madl, whom Kix coached at UConn, was a member of the ’92 national team. An All-American, she won the ’89 Honda-Broderick Cup as the best collegiate field hockey player in the country.

A pixie in the goalkeeping world, Winstel’s 5-foot 1 3/4-inch frame disguises her outstanding ability.

Named All-North Atlantic Conference, Winstel’s .926 save percentage was tops in the NAC. With a goals-against average of 0.78, she had a school-record nine shutouts.

On a mid-December morning before Christmas break, Winstel, Kix and Madl worked up a sweat in the field house here. This the only time the two coaches are allowed to work with their player in the off-season.

Winstel was tired and dripping wet after practice, but nothing dampened her enthusiasm for the challenge she was preparing to undertake: spending a week with the best field hockey coaches and players in the country.

She was surprised and excited to be selected. “It’s an individual accomplishment,” she said, “and I never focus on that, just the team. But I worked hard, and I tried to give a little more every time out.”

The payoff for the extra effort is Elite Camp, a major step in a long process for the young women whose goal is to be an Olympian.

The reality for Winstel is that she is a rookie among veterans, and she’s also “the littlist goalie.”

She is not expecting to jump from Maine goalkeeper to Olympic goalkeeper immediately. Instead, she will concentrate on the “experience and opportunity” of being there.

Winstel is fortunate she knows several players who will be at camp and will be with her coaches.

She came into college hockey with Kix, whom Winstel credits with changing her attitude and making her a better player.

“I didn’t have as positive an attitude before,” Winstel said.

“I used to have real bad temper in the cage. I’d get frustrated and lose concentration.”

All that changed when Winstel and Kix met on the Orono campus three years ago, Winstel said.

“Coach helped me control it and showed me the positive way to deal with it. I became a better goaltender all around.”

It is the extra time spent with Kix, after practice, that Winstel so appreciates.

“I think other coaches tend to forget about their goalkeeper and not pay as much attention to her as to the other players,” she said, “but Coach isn’t like that.”

Former national team members like Madl apply for Elite Camp. She is working hard to get her game back in shape before Dec. 27th.

“I really need to work on ball control and stickwork,” Madl said, making it clear she needs to work on conditioning as much as anything.

Getting her game going again, she said, is difficult “because you can’t play with the kids, and there is no one around here who plays at my level.”

Reflecting on what this experience will mean to Winstel, Madl said, “I know what it is like, the first time. It’s a great experience but, at that point, you’re scared to death. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Mary Lou to gain invaluable experience at the highest level.”

The kick for Kix is having three Black Bears in Elite Camp at the same time, focusing positive attention on the Maine program. She is particularly pleased with Winstel’s selection and seeing one of her players reach that level.

While Kix and Madl will always hold their alma mater close to their hearts, they said, the coaches think now only of Maine, and how proud they are to be representing the university.