Sunday, July 28, 2013

Today, I'm looking at University of Maine Ice Hockey, by Bob Briggs.

The University of Maine main campus is located in Orono, Maine.

The first games were held in 1906, outdoors in the frigid Maine winters. Among the first brother combinations to play hockey for Maine were the Lambe Brothers, Emerson and Reginald. They would terrorize the outdoor hockey rinks with their aggressive play. Other brother combos include David and Jack Capuano, Peter and Chris Ferraro, and John and Jim Tortorella.

Unfortunately, hockey would be discontinued after the 1923-24 season. The winter season was just too much for people to spend a lot of time outside watching a sport, due to frigid temperatures, and the windchill.

Between the 1930s and the 1960s, however, hockey was kept alive as either a winter program or an intramural sport.

Hockey made a grand comeback in 1976, when Harold Alfond donated a large sum of money to develop a new indoor arena for hockey. The Black Bears first hockey game in the new arena, named for Alfond, was held on November 18, 1977. The program lost their first three home games, before winning in a 4-1 match against rival Colby. The program would eventually move into the Shaun Walsh Arena in time for the 2005-06 season, so named for the former coach of the Black Bears.

Hockey is the only sport to win a national championship at Maine, and the Black Bears have won it twice; in 1993, and in 1999.

Maine alum John Tortorella won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, and is now the head coach in Vancouver. Eric Weinrich wasn't able to play for the 1988 Maine squad, due to being added to the United States Olympic squad.

Goalies Garth Snow and Mike Dunham both would go on to NHL careers, and Snow is the General Manager of the New York Islanders.

But probably the best known alums in recent school history would likely be the Kariya brothers. Steve would lead the way to the 1999 National Championship, and would be a Hobey Baker finalist, for best college player of the year. Martin won several awards in his 4-year tenure with the Black Bears, and in 2007 was skating with the Blues in the Finnish League.

However, it is probably Paul Kariya that is the best known of the three. He has played for five NHL teams, and is one of three Maine players to have his number retired.

All in all, I would say that this book really opened my eyes to a new hockey program. Many Maine players went on to the NHL, and they proudly wear the history of Maine Black Bears hockey.


Special thanks to Arcadia Publishing for making this book available for reviewing purposes.



Link to Powell's City of Books, Portland, OR: http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9780738555157-0


Link to Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/university-of-maine-ice-hockey-bob-briggs/1100602753?ean=9780738555157
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