Head coach Mo Stroemel spent the final minutes of Tuesday night's Lady Icers practice with one eye on his team and the other on the clock hanging on Greenberg Ice Pavilion's wall. While hurrying his team through its final drill of the night, the gates keeping the zamboni hidden from the rest of the Pavilion slid open, a cue to the coach that his team's time on the ice had ended.

The women's club hockey team has the budget to support only three hours of practice each week. Currently the team's schedule runs on three days of one-hour practices.

"It's OK. It doesn't bother me too much," Stroemel said. "We'll probably move to longer practices later on, but for right now, no. Three hour days keeps them on the ice more in a row everyday and I'd rather do that."

Each Tuesday and Thursday night, the Lady Icers line up at the gate that separates the ice from the rest of

the Greenberg Ice Pavilion and spill out onto the frozen surface at 7:50 p.m.

By the time the team begins its first drills, the giant red digital clock next to the scoreboard reads 8 p.m. Fifty minutes later, the team exits through the same gate it entered as practice ends.

"I think it affects us a little bit, maybe you can get more things in," freshman Sara Chroman said.

Still, the team shares the same sentiments as its head coach and enjoys the current shorter practice schedule.

"I think it's good because with longer practices you just want them to be over. With an hour and you go all out for the hour," senior Jessica Waldron said. "Last year we only had two practices so having three is really nice."

To compensate for the lack of availability of on-ice time, the Lady Icers each take it upon themselves to prepare off the ice as well.

Chroman said many of her teammates run and participate in other sports with their free time in an attempt to stay physically conditioned for hockey.

Stroemel also set up a schedule for off-ice hockey preparations. Each Tuesday and Thursday the team heads to the weight room to help strengthen its forechecking ability. The head coach also has his team prepare mentally by studying film and statistics to see what it is his team should be focused on in practices.

"We can't always talk about things on the ice because there's not enough time," freshman Dana Heller said. "So we talk a lot before and after. We also go over drills and plans off the ice so we can get right to it out there."

After the meetings it's onto the ice for the team where each member knows it has only 60 minutes to fine-tune its play and prepare for whichever team lurks ahead on its schedule.

"I think that if you just work 100 percent on each drill it's all the same," Chroman said. "If we work really hard on each drill, time's not a factor."