Only when she wasn't on the ice herself, she found herself off of the frozen pond, watching her older brother play hockey.

"I was always stuck at the rink, watching him play," said Schnitzler, a ninth grader at Wilton High School. "The idea just came in my head one day that I wanted to play. I put on a pair of hockey skates and I've been stuck on it ever since."

On Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m., at the Wilton High cafeteria, Schnitzler is going to be one of nearly a dozen young girls in attendence at meeting, showing her support for an idea called, "The Wilton High School girls hockey team."

On the surface, the idea of Wilton having a high school girls hockey program is a great idea.

Chris Hynes knows a thing or two about girls playing hockey — and not just because he's the head coach and CEO of the Stamford-based Spinnakers girls travel youth hockey program.

He's also the father of four daughters, each of whom laced up skates and played the game.

"I think one of the great things my daughters got out of hockey was getting into it when it was mainly perceived as a boys sport," Hynes said. "It showed them you don't have to knuckle under to something, that you can stand up to it and change it. It gave them a lot of confidence."

He added that the team work aspect of being on a hockey team is something girls can take with them into the rest of their lives, as well.

"I've heard from a lot of women in business say one of the things often missing from a lot their lives was the team experience for younger girls," Hynes said. "Sports like field hockey and soccer and ice hockey is a very special opportunity for these girls."

My biggest concern about adding girls hockey as a sport at Wilton is this: Granted right now there is a good and talented core group of experienced players to build around.

There are at least seven seventh graders currently playing in leagues around the area and just as many eighth and ninth graders.

But what happens when this group graduates from high school down the road?

There is no feeder program in Wilton. Heck, there is no rink in Wilton to even start an in-town feeder program.

That means any varsity team will have to just hope it can build enough interest so girls will continue to make a commitment of becoming full-fledged hockey players.

Sloane Levy says not having a rink or an in-house youth program isn't really a problem. Just look at New Canaan, a team which, Levy adds, won the FCIAC championship this past winter.

And, just north of Wilton, Ridgefield slowly built a program from the ground up; something Levy believes Wilton can do, as well.

If the Wilton athletic department says yes and goes all-in hockey the girls hockey experience at the high school, numbers cannot be an issue three, four, five years down the road.

There are also budgetary concerns, ice-time concerns and other logistical things to worry about. And the future is something that should be taken into account when a decision is made whether or not a Wilton High team can fly its colors in the FCIAC.

But, for now, putting on the Blue and White is something very important to the girls, many of whom play for multi-colored club teams throughout Fairfield County aready, who will be at Wednesday's meeting to tell principal Tim Canty and athletic director Christy Hayes what they tihnk.

"Wilton High School has always had a lot of school spirit, so it would be great to add girls hockey to that," said Schnitzler. "Wilton is a great school and hockey is a great sport. It would be so great to show our school spirit and show how good we can do."

Chris Hynes has seen first-hand how a sport like hockey can make a difference in the lives of girls who play the game. And Lara Schnitzler has lived it from the day she hung up her figure skates for good.

It could happen right here in Wilton. Maybe it even deserves to happen.

Selling it to those who make the final decision, however, might be a tougher sell than charging a Mayan tribal chief $25 for a brand new pair of shiny Bauer skates.

John Nash is the Wilton Villager sports editor. He can be reached at 354-1051, or by e-mail at johnnash@ wiltonvillager.com.