Insane in Maine

Insight on the News, Dec 4, 2000 by Brooke Tunstall

The Black Bears, the powerhouse collegiate ice-hockey team of the University of Maine, prompt huge pride in a small state with no big-time basketball or football programs.

As darkness sets in on Orono, Maine, a small college town a few miles outside of Bangor, an already-frigid winter day becomes painfully cold, with temperatures dipping from a high of about 15 degrees to ones that begin with "minus." And that's before factoring in the wind chill. Despite the stinging cold, a few hundred diehards form a queue, shivering more than two hours for the chance to buy tickets to, of all things, a college hockey game.

While college hockey is one sport that remains undiscovered by ESPN and the rest of America, it is a way of life at the University of Maine, where tickets to home games of the Black Bears are the hottest of commodities. "It's the only game in town -- literally," says Bob Thomas, president of the Friends of Maine Hockey, a 500-member fan club. "During the winter here, you can go to the movies, go to a bar or, if you're lucky enough to get tickets, go to a Maine hockey game. There's not much else to do, and this is the most fun."

On Friday and Saturday nights, fans pack Alfond Arena, a cozy building named for a local shoe magnate who donated the money to build the facility, which has sold out every game for as long as folks can remember. There's a 10-year waiting list for season tickets but, before each game, approximately 200 to 400 tickets are released to the public, explaining the hearty souls freezing next to the 25-inch snow banks.

"The program is as big to the people here as Nebraska football is there or basketball is at Kentucky," Black Bears coach Shawn Walsh says. "It's a way of life. People plan vacations and business trips around home games. It's a social event. You get to see people you haven't seen since last season, and friendships get built up over the years between people who sit next to each other. It's really special."

Maine has one of the dominant programs in college hockey, which is played by 57 Division I schools, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In 1993, the Black Bears went an astonishing 43-1-2 to win the first national championship in the history of the state. In 1999, they defeated neighboring New Hampshire in overtime for a second NCAA title.

"The hockey team gives the entire state a reason to be proud," says university President Peter Hoff. "This is a small state" -- 1.7 million people -- "and economically it's only ranked 44th. Mainers don't tend to think of themselves as national champions. But the hockey team has changed all that. It proved to the country that they could beat anybody, and it's really been good for the whole state."

Indeed, pride in the hockey team seems to be everywhere around the university, including Bangor International Airport, Bangor Mall and the aptly named Black Bear Inn -- all of which sport plenty of mementos of the team's accomplishments. Although there's a large market for Maine hockey apparel, it's apparently fickle. At Governor's, a restaurant about a mile from the arena, it does a busy postgame business after the team wins. But after losses, the place closes early because of a lack of customers.

Fortunately for the Chamber of Commerce, Maine doesn't lose much. But it hasn't always been that way. When Walsh became coach in 1984, the program was coming off consecutive losing seasons and had never made the NCAA tournament. By his third season, Maine had reached the NCAAs for the first time and has been a perennial top-10 team since.

Walsh, a former assistant coach at national power Michigan State whose gray hair makes him look older than his 44 years, possesses a cocky streak that has alienated many in the Northeastern coaching fraternity. But he is careful to share his success with team fans -- "Maine-iacs," he calls them, meaning every bit of the pun. "People wait in line hours in the cold to pay, what, $15 for seats? That's a lot of money to people up here."

Alfond seats 5,600 -- and that's only after being expanded in 1992. But with its tight confines and seats that seem almost on top of the ice -- especially the upper terrace, where most of the undergraduates stand and watch -- the building gets loud. "It's the best recruiting tool a coach could have," Walsh says with a smile. "We get a kid up here on game night, and the place just speaks for itself. Kids want to play here because of the atmosphere."

It's not just the noise, but the obvious passion. Small children have their faces painted in the school's blue and white colors. Teen-age girls squeal at the players with the kind of adulation usually reserved for Ricky Martin, and adults strut about in Maine hockey jerseys. When the Black Bears score, the Naked Five -- a band of shirtless male students whose painted chests spell out M-A-I-N-E -- race around the concourse leading cheers.

"It's just a great atmosphere, the best in college hockey," says Barrett Heisten, a sophomore forward who was a No. 1 draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres last year. "We go to some arenas that are bigger, but they aren't nearly as full or nearly as loud.... You come here to be a better hockey player and to get an education but, for sure, the atmosphere is the kind of thing that makes a difference."