Joe Carr, the voice of the University of Maine hockey team for the last eight years, will follow the Bears from the stands instead of the press box this season.

Carr has decided not to return for his ninth year as radio play-by-play man for the Black Bears, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

“I have three young children and they’ve been getting involved in more things over the last couple of years, and I’ve been less and less comfortable with the amount of time I’ve spent away from my family every winter,” said Carr.

Carr and his wife Ellen have two sons and a daughter: Brian (3), Brendan (7) and Colleen (5).

Also playing a part in his decision was his promotion to coordinator of news services at the University of Maine in January.

“I hate to see him get done, but I certainly understand with his family and his new job,” said Dale Duff, program director at Bangor radio station WZON (620 AM), Maine hockey’s flagship station.

“He’ll be a tough guy to replace… But then he followed another tough guy to replace in Gary Thorne.”

Carr went to UMaine two years ago to become its executive assistant to the director of public affairs. Before that, Carr had been operations manager at WABI-TV in Bangor since 1988.

Carr said he has called more than 300 games and done at least one game from every arena in Hockey East, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference since his junior and senior years at Providence College.

“I’ll miss it, but I have no regrets considering all the things I’ve been able to be a part of,” Carr said. “I look forward to being able to go to games as a fan with my family for a change.”

Carr explained that he first considered leaving this summer and informed Duff of his decision in early August.

“He told me he agonized over it all summer,” said Duff. “We’ve talked about him doing some high school basketball and hockey this winter and maybe doing some pregame stuff for Maine games.”

Duff said he has not yet named Carr’s replacement, but has been whittling down a list of finalists over the last month.

“We’ve had discussions with candidates and we have some tapes. We’re going to wrap it up fairly soon,” Duff said.