Cronin dispels rumors> No offer from USA Hockey to consider

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University of Maine interim head coach Greg Cronin denied rumors Wednesday that he has been offered a position with USA Hockey and won’t return to Maine after assisting Jeff Jackson with Team USA during the World Junior Championships in Switzerland from Dec. 14 to Jan. 6.

Jackson will coach the team with Cronin and Michigan assistant Mel Pearson assisting him. Former Michigan Tech coach Bob Mancini, who is working under Jackson at USA Hockey, will be coaching the USA under-17 team at a world tournament in Alberta.

Jackson, the former Lake Superior State head coach, is the new national team coach and elite development program director.

Although Cronin hasn’t been offered a job by Jackson, Cronin said if he was offered one, he would give it “serious consideration” even if it meant not returning to Maine in January.

If Cronin does return, he will again be an assistant because suspended head coach Shawn Walsh will return to the Black Bear helm on Dec. 24.

“Our goal is to hire one more person but I’m not sure if it will be this year or next year,” said Jackson. “We want to make sure we have the best people we can on our staff and that they will work well together with the people we have now.

“Greg is real bright and has a lot to offer. I have a lot of respect for what he’s accomplished as an interim head coach. I wanted to get him involved with the national junior team to see how we’d work together. I enjoyed my experience with him this past summer at national junior camp and the week we spent in Finland with the team,” added Jackson.

Jackson will use the World Junior championships to further evaluate Cronin and Pearson.

USA Hockey is in the midst of creeting a unique project to further develop U.S. players.

Jackson is looking to put together two teams of the country’s best high school seniors and juniors to play 60-game schedules beginning next season. They would attend high school in Ann Arbor, Mich. where Jackson and the USA Hockey Development Center is based.

“We would try to create a competitive schedule for each team,” said Jackson, who would have the juniors on one team and the seniors on another.

Schedules would be comprised of games with junior teams and Major Junior teams across North America and also some international competition.

“Our older team could play a round robin against [Major Junior] Ontario Hockey League teams and the games would count in the standings for the OHL teams so there would be sense of importance for those teams,” said Jackson.

He indicated that the younger team might become a full member of the North American Junior Hockey League.

Jackson said he has been working with the NCAA to ensure that players on the two teams would retain their college eligibility.

“We’ve got it resolved on paper from the NCAA what we can and can’t do,” said Jackson.

College hockey has been hurt by the Major Junior teams, which may negotiate with players long before the NCAA allows its colleges to start its recruitment of student-athletes after their high school junior years. That has cost college hockey such potential stars as Americans Sean Haggerty and Bryan Berard, who were the third- and 12th-leading scorers in the OHL last season.

Major Junior players forfeit their NCAA eligibility because they are paid and considered professionals in the eyes of the NCAA.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to enhance the number of quality prospects for college hockey,” said Jackson, who won three NCAA titles in six years as the head coach at Lake Superior State.

Following the World Junior Championships, Jackson and Mancini will spend a lot of time evaluating talent for the two new teams.

Jaycee Johnson, a 6-foot, 5-inch swingman from Paterson, N.J., has committed to play basketball at the University of Maine next year, his high school coach said Wednesday.

Johnson averaged 11 points and seven rebounds per contest as a starter on the nation’s 18th-ranked team, Paterson Catholic High.

“A lot of people won’t realize how difficult that is [to average those numbers] on that team,” Paterson Catholic coach Jerome Smart said.

Paterson Catholic’s star last season was Villanova freshman Tim Thomas, who averaged 29 points and was widely recognized as the nation’s top recruit. The team’s number two scorer was Kevin Freeman, who scored 23 ppg and ended up at Connecticut.

“He’ll probably eventually be a very good two guard,” Smart said of Johnson.”He’s a good shooter, but he’s more of a slasher. He has a nice frame, and is strong.”

One of Johnson’s strengths is his ability to play defense on bigger players, while being quick enough to defend on the perimeter.

“It’s nice to have a guy who can guard more than one position,” Smart said. “He can guard 6-8 guys, 6-9 guys, and then the next night come back and guard a 6-2 player.”

Among the schools on Johnson’s list were Maine’s America East foes Drexel, Delaware and Hartford. He only visited Maine, Smart said.

NCAA regulations prohibit Maine coach John Giannini from commenting about recruits until their National Letters of Intent are received by the school. Smart said Johnson’s letter was signed and sent by Federal Express to Orono Wednesday.

Johnson is the third recruit to verbally commit to Maine, joining 6-7 1/2 forward Colin Haynes of Moorestown, N.J., and 6-9 forward Jamar Croom of Reading, Pa.

Two eastern Maine women will be involved in the NCAA Division I Field Hockey championships at Boston College this weekend.

Skowhegan High School product Andrea Devoe scored eight goals as a starting midfielder for America East champion Northeastern University and former Belfast High standout goalie Staci Smith is the back-up goalie for Old Dominion University (Va.). Smith transferred to ODU from Virginia Commonwealth.

Smith played in one game this season.

Smith and Devoe are sophomores.

Northeastern, 18-6-1, takes on 21-1 North Carolina at noon Saturday in one semifinal with 19-4 Old Dominion facing 17-3 Princeton University at 2:45 p.m. The winners will play on Sunday.

Houlton’s Eleanore Aine finished 110th in the NCAA Division III Cross Country championships at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. last Saturday. Anderson, who qualified with an eighth place finish at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Meet at Westfield State College (Mass.) the previous weekend, posted a time of 19:25 over the 5K course.