Walsh, UMaine players to be tested in Festival

Shawn Walsh has certainly made a name for himself in the six years he has directed the University of Maine’s hockey program. His overall record at Maine reads 145-106-8. His mark over the last four years is 122-49-6.

Walsh, named the Hockey East Coach of the Year twice over the last three years, was considered one of the top dozen candidates for the U.S. Olympic hockey job for the 1992 Winter Games by Bob Johnson, the former USA Hockey executive director.

Walsh will get another chance to prove himself, as will six of his Maine players, when the hockey portion of the United States Olympic Festival gets under way at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn. on Monday.

Walsh will coach the North team in the festival and will have two of his players, goalie Matt DelGuidice and defenseman Keith Carney. Playing for the East Team will be defenseman Brian Straub along with incoming freshmen Mike Dunham, a goalie, and Matt Martin, a defenseman. Wearing the WesDunham, a goalie, and Matt Martin, a defenseman. Wearing the West Team colors will be right winger Kent Salfi.

DelGuidice and Straub will be seniors at Maine; Carney will be a junior and Salfi will be a sophomore.

“I will be evaluated,” said the 35-year-old Walsh. “I’ve thought about it a lot. I think I’m a long shot for the (Olympic) job in 1992. I’ll be a more viable candidate for 1994 or ’98 as long as I can keep producing the same winning ways at Maine.”

How do you go about coaching a team in the festival, putting together a team in just five days?

“I had only one day to prepare the Selects team,” chuckled Walsh, whose team of U.S. Selects, a group of collegians, dealt touring Soviet team Sokol-Kiev its first loss in nine games, 5-2, in Orlando, Fla., before notching a 4-4 tie in Dallas the next night to take the two-games, total-goals series 9-6.

Walsh said he will coach his North team “the way I always coach.”

Walsh, known for his work ethic, thorough preparation and intensity, had sent questionnaires to the coaches of the players on his team to establish the players’ “strong suits and special teams abilities.” The questionnaires will also help him decide on line combinations and defense tandems.

“The big thing is I want them to play with people they will play well with,” said Walsh. “We want to get into the gold medal game.”

The four teams will play a round robin, facing each other once, with the top two finishers playing for the gold medal and the bottom two playing for the bronze medal.

Walsh coached the Great Lakes team to a 4-0 record and the gold medal in the 1981 U.S. Olympic Festival.

Walsh intends to keep the systems simple due to the lack of preparation time and he will give each of his players plenty of ice time.

“I want to give each player adequate ice time so they’ll have a chance to show what they can do,” said Walsh.

In addition to DelGuidice and Carney, some of the other players on Walsh’s North team will be the University of Minnesota’s Travis Richards, Doug Zmolek, Grant Bischoff and Jason Miller; Lake Superior State’s Jim Dowd; Wisconsin’s Barry Richter; New Hampshire’s Chris Winnes and Northeastern’s Brian Sullivan.

Walsh is looking forward to the event, saying “Any time you coach at this level, it helps you become a better coach. I’ll be able to ad-lib a little more than I would at Maine.”

He also likes the idea of being able to evaluate his University of Maine players, particularly Martin and Dunham, and the fact this will be an excellent experience for them.

“This will be tremendous for their development,” said Walsh. “They can’t help but become better, more confident players as a result of it.”

For Carney and DelGuidice, they will be looking to make an impact to improve their chances to make the 1992 United States Olympic team.

Walsh said being able to gauge the Olympic chances of Carney based on his performance during the festival will help him know whether he will have to recruit a defenseman to take Carney’s place for the 1991-92 season.

Dunham and Salfi will be hoping to improve their chances to make the 1990-91 U.S. Junior National team.

Walsh’s North Team and the East Team will open the tourney with an 8 p.m (EDT) game on Monday.

The rest of the schedule: Tuesday – South vs. East, 2:30 p.m.; North vs. West, 8:30 p.m.; Wednesday – South vs. West, 8 p.m.; Thursday – East vs. West, 8 p.m.; Friday – North vs. South, 8 p.m.; Saturday – bronze medal game, 2 p.m.; gold medal game, 8 p.m.