Playing hockey in front of a packed house at Family Ice Center in Falmouth is a new experience for Isac Nordstrom.

It’s a different atmosphere than he was used to in his native Sweden.

“In Sweden, it’s just your parents and your grandparents,” he said. “Here it’s much different. It’s much more fun.”

Nordstrom is one of the two freshmen playing on the Yachtsmen’s highly competitive varsity squad this season.

“We’re using him mostly for penalty-killing right now,” Coach Deron Barton said. “He’s played center in Sweden and he’s a strong skater. He’s got a good high hockey IQ so he’s able to play well in his own end at that position.”

The Nordstrom family moved to the United States last year after Imerys put Patrik Nordstrom, Isac’s dad, in charge of its production facilities in Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin. The Swedish-based firm manufactures coating and filler for the paper industry.

“We liked the school and we liked the hockey team,” said Isac, explaining why his family settled in Falmouth.

In Sweden, Nordstrom played on the under-15 team at the Njurunda Sportklubb in his hometown, about 220 miles north of Stockholm. Detroit Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg and former Tampa Bay Lightning star Fredik Modin played for the same team.

“The secret behind Njurunda SK’s good players is that it doesn’t matter what team is practicing on the ice, you are always welcome to join the practice,” Patrik Nordstrom said. “That means as a player you have unlimited ice time.”

Nordstrom, 15, played with his club team from August through March or April. When the season was done, he would continue training.

“Our coach took us dry-land (training) three times a week, and then in August I was back on the ice,” he said.

THE SCARBOROUGH boys’ team is still unbeaten at home at the MHG Arena in Saco.

The Red Storm, third in the Western Class A Heal point standings, are 8-0-1 at home.

“We play really well in that building,” Coach Norm Gagnon said. “It’s confining and we confine teams there.”

The ice surface is a few feet narrower, and the Red Storm try to use it to their advantage.

“It’s not as wide as most rinks,” Gagnon said. “With the forecheck we use in that rink, we confine teams and we create turnovers. (The forecheck) has been confusing to our opponents because most of them have never seen the forecheck before.”

Scarborough, which is 2-2 when playing away from the MHG Arena, has used a different forechecking scheme on the road.

But that may change.

“We’re tweaking our forecheck now, so we can use it on the road,” Gagnon said. “Overall, we’ve been doing pretty good with our D-zone coverage, and we’re trying something different to strengthen that even more.”

The Red Storm will travel to play Brunswick tonight at Watson Arena.

FEMALE GOALIES are playing key roles on the Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach and Noble/Wells co-op boys’ teams.

Kasey Parks, a senior from Old Orchard, has played in 11 games, and freshman Lauren Moore, out with a back injury, played in three games for Noble.

FORWARD MATT ROSS has recovered from a broken foot the kept him out of Cape Elizabeth’s lineup for the first month of the season.

In his first eight games back, Ross has four goals and six assists.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH