By Monique Walker, Globe Staff

Easton, Mass. - As Garry Hebert talks about his Stonehill College men's hockey team, his eyes are wide and his hands are circling about, as if he's directing an orchestra. The opportunity excites Hebert.

At 47 years old, he is in his first season as head coach of the defending Northeast-10 champions. He describes the experience as "destiny fulfilled."

First year head coach Garry Hebert brings over 30 years of experience to the reigning Northeast-10 Champions.

The Rockland resident is more than a familiar face in the hockey community. An All-American player at Thayer Academy, Hebert went on to skate at the University of Vermont, a highly regarded Division 1 program, where a string of injuries eventually ended his playing career.

In an attempt to stay close to the game, he co-coached the Essex Junction, Vt., High School team, where he discovered he had a knack for teaching and motivating. He established the World Academy of Hockey in 1990, based in Norwell, using his skills to teach and develop all skills of players, including those in the National Hockey League.

The journey has led him to Stonehill, where Hebert was an associate coach the previous two seasons, working with players on the more intricate parts of the game. When Scott Harlow stepped down after seven seasons, Hebert was hired as coach.

Stonehill opened its season last week, dropping its home opener to Suffolk, 6-2, but Sky Hawk players will tell you this is a team that has been notorious for slow starts. Last season, Stonehill started 1-6, but rallied to produce an impressive second half and advance to the postseason, where it captured the Northeast-10 title for the first time in school history.

But for Hebert, leading Stonehill is about more than one season.

He has a goal to build a program that can one day be as successful as small schools such as Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams. Middlebury has reached the NCAA Division 3 Tournament 12 consecutive seasons and won a NCAA-record five straight titles from 1995 to 1999. When Hebert took over at Stonehill he said he wanted to continue what had been started.

"I don't want to drop the ball," Hebert said. "I want to raise the program to new heights, now."

This season, Hebert and assistant coach Joe Bellew of Hingham are overseeing a roster that features 16 players from the Bay State. Herbert has used various tips from motivational books and speakers to inspire his players, and they have taken to his upbeat personality, said forward Matt Curran.

"I never met a coach like him before," Curran said. "He's so positive on the ice. You can tell how much he really cares for all of the players, and he's a great motivator.

"Even when he's criticizing you, he does it in a way that you feel like you did good, but you know you did something wrong and you don't want to do it again because you feel like you can do better."

Curran said working with Hebert the previous two seasons helped him gain confidence in his skating ability. Hebert's mother taught figure skating and elements of the sport translated into hockey for Hebert, who emphasizes control and power when skating.

As a sophomore, Curran said he had an average season scoring 16 goals and 15 assists. Then he worked with Hebert.

"At first you do these drills that you think are absolutely pointless things that go back to when you're 5 or 6 years old and learning to skate," said Curran, who netted 30 goals with 14 assists last season. "But then you come off the ice and you realize you got a pretty good workout."

Senior forward Brendan O'Brien of Braintree said watching Hebert skate can be a lesson in itself.

"The things he can do on his skates still, amazes you," said O'Brien, a Xaverian Brothers graduate. "You think you're a good skater and you see him, and he's like a figure skater on hockey skates almost. . . . You think, I can do it, then you try to go out and do it and you fall on the ice or you lose the puck, and that's when you see how special he is at what he does."

Hebert said his goal in all of his ventures, whether through his academy or coaching, has been to bring out the best in athletes, whether it is on or off the ice. He prides himself on highlighting the positive. For instance, the Skyhawks do not have a rink on campus, playing their home games at the Bridgewater Ice Arena, but Hebert does not complain.

"We don't have our own rink, but we have rings," said Hebert, referring to the team's 2007 conference title. "What we have we want to build on. We want our team to be the trademark of excellence in all facets of the game."

Hebert said leading college athletes at Stonehill has been a welcome blessing for him and his family, which includes wife, Michele, and two sons, Derek and Tyler.

He said he hopes the program at Stonehill becomes one that others will want to emulate.

"There are times when you feel you are at the center of what you want to do in life," Hebert said.

And Hebert has found his place.