Raffi Wolf, a junior center on the University of Maine women’s hockey team, will play in the 2002 Olympics for her native Germany. She will become the first Maine women’s player to ever compete in the Olympics.

Wolf returned Tuesday from a pre-Olympic tournament in Switzerland in which Germany finished second to earn the eighth and final spot for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

She had a goal and three assists in three games to lead 1-1-1 Germany in scoring and she was chosen her team’s Most Valuable Player.

The Germans were tied by Japan 3-3 in their opener before they beat Switzerland 3-1 and lost to Kazakhstan 2-1. She scored her goal against Kazakhstan, notched two assists against Switzerland and had one against Japan.

“It was a great experience. I’ll never forget it. I’m still in shock,” said Wolf, who was pleased with her performance.

“I thought I played really well. I centered the first line and played on the power-play and penalty-killing units,” said Wolf.

The 22-year-old native of Voerde, Germany, said the adjustment to her teammates was a smooth one.

“I knew most of the kids. We played on Cup teams and played against each other. It wasn’t hard at all. It didn’t take long to get used to them,” said Wolf, who added that playing at Maine prepared her well for the tournament.

Germany and Kazakhstan will join the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, China and Russia in the Olympics.

“This has been her goal for three years,” said University of Maine coach Rick Filighera. “It’s an unbelievable honor for her and a neat thing for us. It gives our program a little notoriety. There aren’t many players from our league [ECAC] who will be playing in the Olympics.”

She is believed to be one of only four players from the ECAC who will play in the Olympics.

The 5-foot-7 Wolf has seven goals and eight assists in 20 games for the Black Bears this season and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 79 points in 77 games. Her 53 career goals are also a school record.

Wolf plans to redshirt next season but said she would like to take 12 credit hours in the fall before joining her teammates in Germany around Christmas time.

She could return and play the 2002-2003 season for the Black Bears.

She won’t be the only hockey player with Maine ties in the Olympics.

Matthias Trattnig, a senior right winger for the men’s hockey team, will play for Austria after he helped his country qualify for the preliminary round of the Olympics during a pre-Olympic tournament. Austria went 1-1-1 in the four-team tourney.

He was expected to return Wednesday.

Eight teams play in the preliminary round and the top two advance to the final round where they will join the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Canada, the United States and Sweden.

The Hockey News magazine has speculated that four former Black Bears: goalie Mike Dunham, now with the Nashville Predators; and defensemen Keith Carney (Phoenix) and Eric Weinrich (Montreal) will receive serious consideration for the United States Olympic team and Paul Kariya (Anaheim) will be a shoo-in for Team Canada.

All four have played in previous Olympics.

The National Hockey League will shut down for 12 days during the Games.