What’s the secret about UM’s goals?

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At the very beginning of the Maine women’s basketball season, Stacia Rustad mentioned at the Bears media day that the team had set special goals for the season.

Well sure, every competitive group of athletes sets goals. But what are they?

Rustad smiled and clammed up. She wasn’t saying.

Tuesday, after Maine’s 90-41 whipping of Hartford, Maine coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie, when asked if she ran up the score intentionally, also made mention of specific goals the team has set.

A reporter in the press conference asked an obvious question: What are those goals, coach?

As with Rustad at the beginning of the season, Palombo’s reaction to the question was hesitant refrain.

“Just stated goals within the team,” was all the elaboration Palombo offered.

So what’s the big secret? Are the Bears aspiring to win the North Atlantic Conference again?

Nah, couldn’t be that. There wouldn’t be any reason to be top secret about dominating the league since the Bears do that with ease. They are 10-0 in the NAC.

Maybe Maine is gunning for a second trip ever to the NCAA Tournament?

Well, once you’ve been invited to college basketball’s premier dance, the next best thrill is getting to stay around to waltz your way into the limelight. So maybe the Bears have set their “special goals” on making it to the Sweet Sixteen… or even the Final Four.

Aspiring for a trip to the Big Dance certainly would be a daunting enough task to keep the Bears from divulging their “stated goals within the team.”

But, for a team that lost its first game in the NCAA tournament its first time there – Maine lost last year to eventual national champion Connecticut, 105-75 – an obvious goal would be to make it back to the tournament and win at least one game.

There isn’t any reason a team rebounding from success should hide that goal.

For a Division I team of scholarship athletes that draws an average of 3,161 fans to its home games, there is no excuse for Maine to dodge a question basketball fans throughout Maine would love to know: What do you hope to achieve?

Unfortunately, Bear fans won’t know Maine’s mysterious goals until, and if, the Bears achieve them. Because until then, they’re not talking.

– Deirdre Fleming

You’re at a hockey game and one team is winning handily.

As the game wears on, frustration sets in for the players on the losing team.

The game gets chippy and starts to deteriorate. Players start running each other, start slipping in a punch or two, or even worse, they get the sticks up.

The referees begin calling more penalties to try to control the game.

That sometimes works. Other times, it leads to more frustration.

There is a simple solution to this problem.

The referees should stop the game and call both coaches over. They should tell the coaches they aren’t going to tolerate any more nasty infractions. Somebody could get hurt.

Then the refs should lay down the law: Double minors and a 10-minute misconduct will be assessed to a player who commits a penalty deemed nasty by the refs.

A player who is forced to sit in the penalty box for 14 minutes isn’t likely to create any more problems.

Reducing a player’s ice time is a great deterrent to violence.

– By Larry Mahoney

Despite his assault on the Penobscot Valley Conference-Eastern Maine Indoor Track League triple jump record, Brewer High track star Peter Phelan is still the best-kept secret in Maine.

Phelan, who pushed the existing triple jump record out to a stunning 47-feet, 1/4-inch Saturday night, is ranked sixth in the nation in the event. No other Maine high school athlete has jumped as far. But college coaches haven’t found him yet. There are no scholarship offers on the table.

Around Eastern Maine, Phelan is being greeted with the wide-eyed, “where have you been all of my life?” wonderment that greets sudden phenoms. This paper is guilty of that as well.

Truth be known, Phelan has always been good. He’s the defending state Class A champ in the event. He skimmed his way to a highly respectable 44-10 in winning the outdoor Eastern Maine regional last year.

But outside of the halls of Brewer High, Phelan, to steal from the Fab Four, is the quintessential Nowhere Man: he knows not where he’s going to.

Phelan may be the state’s top hurdler, and is one of its best long jumpers, as well. He hasn’t been beaten at 600 yards in two years. He’s an honor roll student.

He says he received a letter and a phone call from the University of Maine, and is still talking with them. Williams College in Massachusetts, a Division III school unable to offer athletic scholarships, is interested in Phelan forking out $28,000 a year to compete. But that’s about it.

Sadly, Phelan’s athletic prowess is ignored by many across Eastern Maine, largely because he won’t be bouncing a leather ball in the Bangor Auditorium during February vacation.

For Eastern Maine sports fans to ignore the talent resting at their doorstep is understandable. Track is a sport most often followed closely only by friends and family members of the competitors.

But for college track coaches, including the UMaine coaches who have offices in the field house at which Phelan performs each Saturday night, to snub the talented jumper would be unforgivable.

Sure money is tight. But eventually, someone will pay for Phelan’s education. It doesn’t have to be someone from southern New England or beyond.

Wake up. Ante up. Keep this kid in Maine.

– John Holyoke

Readers may submit “Sounding Off” comments to the Bangor Daily News’ Sports Desk at P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402-1329. Our fax number is (207) 990-8092. All comments will be edited for accuracy, clarity, content and taste.