Christmas in Voerde, Germany, will be a time of great reflection for Raffi Wolf. The University of Maine center will think about her first semester of Division I hockey – bristle at how close she came to having it end.

When Wolf returns to the first-year team, on which she is the the star player, she may find she has lost some of her nerve. Or Wolf may consider her good fortune with gratitude, and return even more determined to bring Maine from the bottom of the ECAC to the next level.

Before she left for Germany, Wolf said she didn’t know how she would respond to a head injury she sustained in Maine’s last game.

On Dec. 9, Wolf assisted on two quick goals in Maine’s game against Bowdoin and then, for no apparent reason, went face-first into the boards. She lay there for five minutes before getting up slowly, dizzy and nauseous.

If Wolf had struck the boards with the crown of her head, rather than her face, she could have been going home in a wheelchair.

“It was scary at first. I was lying there, I could have been paralyzed. I couldn’t move my neck, I thought, `Oh, my God.’ It was so scary,” Wolf said the day after the accident. “I had luck. I’m still pretty shocked. It was unbelievable what happened.”

The 20-year-old freshman has played hockey since she was 9. The only serious injuries she has had were a broken finger and a minor knee strain. Before the fall at Alfond Arena, Wolf had a no-fear approach to hockey.

“It felt so weird. Right now, I don’t know how it happened. There was no [other] player involved,” Wolf said. “I couldn’t move at all. I’m lucky I just have a minor concussion. I’m glad we have a break. If we would play, I don’t think I could go near the boards.”

UMaine coach Rick Filighera said the episode came at a good time because Wolf has two weeks before UMaine’s next game.

If Wolf regains her composure, Filighera said it is realistic to think she will finish with a 60-point season and as the ECAC’s Rookie of the Year.

The former German National Team member has 21 points in the so far for 6-5 Maine. Her goals this year are simple: just improve. Her plan for her college career is bigger.

“It’s the beginning. We shouldn’t expect too much. I just want to win a national title before I leave school,” Wolf said simply. “It’s probably hard, because it’s a new program. But that’s my goal. I have to have a good attitude. Maybe it is realistic.”

The center piece

Without a doubt, Filighera said Wolf is the player he will build the program around.

“Easily. She’s built into the first line,” he said. “She is definitely a go-to player. She is definitely somebody teams come to watch play. To a top-notch forward, we tell them she is someone they may be playing on a line with.”

Wolf is essential to Maine’s power play, she plays on the penalty kill in 5-on-3 situations, and on the first line. Most of all, she is a scoring threat. She is unpredictable. She has a variety of shots. Filighera said he tells her to be creative.

“She has a tremendous slap shot. She has an oustanding deke. On breakaways, she has a good wrist shot,” Filighera said. “She can score any which way.”

Only time will tell how good Wolf can become.

Harvard coach Katey Stone didn’t know who Wolf was. And Harvard leads the ECAC at 10-1.

“Is she from Finland, or Sweden?,” Stone asked. “I heard they had a pretty good player. I don’t know her.”

Princeton coach Jeff Kampersal said he didn’t know who Wolf was before the Tigers played UMaine. But Kampersal was impressed when he saw Wolf in UMaine’s two losses to Princeton, a 6-0 defeat and 4-3 letdown in which Wolf had two goals and an assist.

“Definitely, Raffi is the person to watch for,” said Kampersal, whose Tigers are tied with New Hampshire for second place in the ECAC. “She has good balance, she’s really good with the puck, she sees the ice well. Obviously, she’s a dangerous player.”

Kampersal said if UMaine brings in two or three good players, that could change how much damage Wolf could do.

“The team overall is pretty gritty. It’s young. When she gets one or two to play with she’ll push everyone and they’ll get better,” Kampersal said. “Even at the end of the season, she’ll be a much better player.”

UMaine assistant coach Chantel Gammie, who recruited Wolf, said confidence is all she needs.

Gammie said the 5-foot-7 Wolf is already ahead of her peers in terms of physical strength – having had years of weight training with German national teams.

Filighera said Wolf needs to become more consistent to be a dominating player. The problem, he said, are the many pressures on her.

Wolf started her freshman year in a new country, playing on a new Division I team as the go-to player.

“Sometimes, we have to convince her and remind her that she’s good,” Filighera said.

One of Wolf’s linemates, Colleen Baude, has two goals and three assists since joining Wolf seven games ago. She said Wolf is not so much a leader as she is an impact player.

“She’s good with the puck. She’s committed,” Baude said. “She concentrates at practice. There’s no fooling around.”

UMaine junior Alison Lorenz, who led the Division III ECAC Alliance in scoring last year, said just the opposite. The Brewer native, who played with Wolf briefly on the first line before moving to the third line, said Wolf is always happy, always smiling.

“Raffi brings a lot to the team. We all really like her,” Lorenz said. “She’s so talented, we really rely on her to help us out in games. I think the whole team enjoys having her. She’s good-natured. She enjoys coming to hockey.”

A UMaine student

Wolf said her first semester passed so fast, she had a hard time assessing it. She likes her classes and playing hockey at UMaine, but the cultural change of going to an American univeristy is tough.

“I think I’m happy. I really like school, the campus. I don’t think I made a big mistake,” Wolf said. “Of course, I miss my home, my friends and family. I don’t miss hockey in Germany. It is way better here, more competitive. It is better for me to improve.”

The cultural change, more than being the go-to player on a new team, is what gets Wolf down.

Wolf talks of the friends she’s made in her classes, students she e-mails. But the culture around her is still so new.

“In class they don’t talk about different countries, they talk about the [U.S.],” Wolf said. “It’s only about us, they don’t talk about Europe. [In Germany], we learn about the whole world.”

At the same time, Wolf wants to see the UMaine women’s hockey team become a title contender. She considers all the factors that will need to change as the team improves.

She said at her first home game many UMaine students said they would come to cheer. Not 100 showed. Wolf said it was hard, but she is looking toward the future.

She watches the men’s team and believes the women’s team needs to embrace the student community more.

“They see so many people at their games, that are not even their friends,” Wolf said. “For us, we have to get friends to come. We need more support.”

Wolf is convinced the team only needs experience to earn its first playoff berth. She isn’t worried – not even about Harvard, which UMaine faces next.

“When we get back, everyone will be pumped up for the game,” Wolf said. “Everyone has enough confidence. You never know what will happen. We don’t have to lose.”