ORONO – Senior members of the University of Maine hockey team were left wondering if they should stay.

Members of the Maine coaching staff were left facing the prospect of even tougher recruiting.

Add it up, and the additional NCAA sanctions levied against the Black Bear program will make remaining among the upper echelon in college hockey more difficult.

The two most detrimental sanctions involve UMaine being banned from the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, after school-imposed sanctions prevented the Bears from playing in the 1996 NCAA tournament, and the loss of eight scholarships during the next three seasons.

The school had reduced the number of scholarships by three but the Committee on Infractions tacked on five more.

“There’s no question that the reduction in scholarships will hurt their depth,” said New Hampshire coach Dick Umile. “Eighteen [scholarships] isn’t enough as it is. They won’t have any margin for error or development.”

Umile said just how competitive the Bears will be will depend on “their 16 or 14 [scholarship] players.”

Maine interim head hockey coach Greg Cronin said, “We aren’t going to have the latitude to make recruiting mistakes. We’re going to have to do a heckuva’ job coaching and developing guys. It will be critical that we use every bit of ice time to work with the fifth- and sixth-line kids this year because they’ll be taking the places of the [Tim] Lovells, [Dan] Shermerhorns and [Reg] Cardinals the following year.

Cronin added that having suspended head coach Shawn Walsh back will be a huge bonus. Walsh can return on Dec. 24.

Cronin said the Bears have an impressive incoming class and he is confident assistant and recruiting coordinator Grant Standbrook can continue to bring in recruited walk-ons to complement the scholarship players and galvanize the team.

Maine will have eight seniors who can return to the Bears this fall. They are: forwards Shermerhorn, Cardinal, Lovell, Trevor Roenick and Brad Mahoney; defensemen Jeff Tory and Jason Mansoff; and goalie Blair Allison.

Because of the NCAA sanctions, the seniors also can transfer to another NCAA institution without having to sit out the mandatory year as dictated by NCAA rules.

Or … those seniors who have not already redshirted could redshirt next season and return to play during the 1997-98 season.

Players who have already signed national letters-of-intent for the upcoming season are bound by those letters according to Maine Compliance Director Tammy Light.

Speaking of next season, UMaine will have to wait for a vote by Hockey East Commissioner Bob DeGregorio and the conference’s athletic directors to determine if the Bears can play in next year’s Hockey East tournament.

Wednesday’s announcement left Maine players contemplating uncertain futures.

“There are some options out there,” said Tory. “One option I’m looking at is playing for the Canadian National Team next year and returning to Maine [for the ’97-98 season].”

Tory expects to attend a Canadian national camp in September.

Shermerhorn said, “I’m not going to close any doors now. I’ll need to open a few and weigh the pros and cons. I had been very optimistic about having one more shot at [the national title]. This puts a wrench in that system.”

Tory said there are plenty of good reasons to return to Maine even if the appeal is rejected.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a better environment in which to enhance and improve yourself [for a pro career],” said Tory. “We have the bes all-around coaching staff in college hockey.”

You’d have a hard time finding better practices or game preparations than you receive at Maine.”

And he said transferring to another institution may sound like a better deal than it actually is.

“There’s not much sense to transfer to a school that is going to finish below .500 and isn’t going to qualify for the NCAA Tournament,” said Tory. “And at this stage, is there going to be any money available? I don’t see it.”

“I’d have to find somebody else who has scholarship money left over,” said Shermerhorn. “That’s a very big thing for me personally. I couldn’t afford to pay for my own [education] and my family couldn’t.”

“You’d have to see if you’d fit in anywhere else,” said Allison. “The problem for Canadian guys is it’s pretty expensive to go to school in the states. The exchange rate kills Canadian kids.”

“The only way I would explore another team is if they had a spot for me and they had a chance to win the national championship,” added Tory.

Tory, Shermerhorn and Allison also said there’s the matter of whether or not a player could transfer credits and if he could fit into a similar course of study at another institution.

“I’m concerned about [transferring] credits,” said Shermerhorn. “I’d like t graduate. I’m right on pace now. I don’t want to transfer and lose that.”

Shermerhorn said since he will be 24 next summer, he doesn’t consider redshirting to be a viable option. Allison can’t redshirt.

Another option would be pro hockey.

“But a scholarship means quite a bit and an education means a lot,” said Tory. “I wouldn’t sign unless it was worth it.”