Insane in Maine

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Dec 4, 2000 | by Brooke Tunstall

What makes Maine's success remarkable is that it is fiscally self-sufficient. Most prominent Division I hockey programs, such as those at Boston College, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, get a portion of the revenue created by big-money basketball and football programs. But Maine has a below-average Division I-AA football program, and the basketball team has never made the NCAA tournament. It is the hockey team, which generates almost $1.6 million a year annually in ticket revenue, that funds the other 19 varsity sports.

"The hockey team generates income in several different ways," says Scott Lowenberg, Maine's assistant athletic director for marketing. "We have a waiting list for our luxury boxes, and we have more demand for sign space than we have room for. There's a waiting list to buy tickets, and we get a nice cut from merchandise."

Because a bigger arena would allow the athletic department to raise more capital, there has been talk of expanding Alfond yet again, but Walsh will hear nothing of it. "I wouldn't want a bigger place," he says. "The way it is now is special, and it's too valuable for our recruiting."

That recruiting is the key to Maine's on-ice success. While most college hockey powers have a home-grown recruiting base, high-school hockey is not big enough in Maine to produce the kind of talent needed for a top Division I program. Eric Turgeon, a sophomore defenseman from Augusta, is the only Maine native on the roster, and he has played in just three games this season.

"[Maine] isn't a hockey hotbed," Walsh says. "There aren't a lot of rinks, and good high-school competition is so spread out. And that makes it tough for kids to develop into the kinds of players needed to play at this level."

Thus, Walsh and assistant Grant Standbrook have to scour North America and Europe for talent. This season Maine has players from seven states (including Alaska), five Canadian provinces and three European countries. Says Walsh: "We're called `Team U.N.' now."