When the three seniors on the University of Maine hockey team leave Orono in the coming months, the program will lose something it hasn’t been without in a long time.

Up through the 1994-95 season, the team had been to the NCAA Tournament eight out of nine years. But when the Bears were denied playing in the tournament in 1996 and 1997 for NCAA violations, the program lost most of the players who had that postseason experience.

Seniors Shawn Wansborough, Scott Parmentier and Brian White are the only remaining players on this year’s team who have been to hockey’s big show.

In fact, in UMaine’s Hockey East final game Saturday, 13 of 19 players in the lineup had never been in the league tournament before.

The Bears say they didn’t miss the NCAA Tournament this year because they lost in the Hockey East title game, but because UMaine, which finished 17-15-4, had an inconsistent regular season. And consistency comes with experience.

UMaine coach Shawn Walsh and his players say now the Bears have that.

“The biggest thing, I think our players have been hit right between the eyes with the fact they’re not practicing right now because of games against teams that we should have beaten,” Walsh said. “The bottom line is we didn’t win the J.C. Penney Tournament, the Governor’s Cup, the Hockey East. The first thing we need to do is win the little things. I think we became defensively consistent the last six weeks.”

With the disappointment of Saturday’s loss still heavy on hi With the disappointment of Saturday’s loss still heavy on his mind, UMaine point-leader Steve Kariya said the lesson of why the Bears missed the NCAA Tournament will provide motivation.

Wansborough said the hard, valuable playoff lesson has provided the younger Bears with the insight they lacked.

“The team learned what it takes to win. They will pass that on to the new guys next year,” Wansborough said. “A lot of guys were in a situaton they haven’t been in. I think they responded well. They showed a lot of character that I didn’t see for most of the year.”

Nobody benefited from the intense postseason experience more than starting sophomore goalie Alfie Michaud.

A Hockey East All-Touranment selection, Michaud not only proved in the playoffs he can play as well as any goalie in the country, he infected his team with trust in his abilities.

“Down the stretch, he was arguably the best in our league and one of the top goalies in the country,” Kariya said. “I think he will have an unbelievable year next year.”

Michaud finished the tourney with a .907 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average. Kariya said Michaud’s poor record during the season that left him with a final .890 save percentage was due to the team not playing well defensively.

However, with the expected arrival of highly touted freshman goalie Matthew Yeats, the top goalie in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Michaud could face competition for his starting spot.

“Certainly he showed he can play at this level,” Walsh said. “I’m not annointing anyone anything. The team has confidence in him. And the award he recieved will help him mentally.”

In front of Michaud, not much will change. The benefit of UMaine’s youth is it returns three lines intact.

The chemistry and strength of the first, third and fourth lines worked well enough, Walsh may keep them. That will depend on how players continue to develop.

Walsh said among the bigger surprises at the end of the season were the three Swedish players: junior center Marcus Gustafsson, sophomore defensmen Robert Ek and freshman forward-turned-defensemen Anders Lundback. But there were others.

“Cory Larose had a great second half. He may be another game-breaking kind of player,” Walsh said of the Bears second-best scorer (40 points). “In terms of teaching, there will be less at forward because there is less turnover. The emergence of Anders on defense and Robert Ek will help there.”

On defense, the Bears also have junior David Cullen, who finished third behind Larose in points (37).

Gustafsson, Lundback and junior Bobby Stewart were among the top 20 scoring leaders in the league tournament with four points each.

While Kariya joined Michaud on the Hockey East All-Tounament Team, freshman Matthias Trattnig (17 points) was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team for his regular season play.

The loss of the three seniors leaves key roles open. Parmentier and Wansborough played on the power play and the penalty kill while White was on the penalty kill.

However, Wansborough, who finished fourth on the team with 34 points, and Parmentier (22), played together on the second line, while White is the lone defensemen lost.

So while the players departing are key performers, Walsh said those coming up can fill the gaps.

“We have more returning experienced players than we did a year ago,” Walsh said. “And we should have some freshmen who can make an immediate impact.”

Of the newcomers, defenseman Doug Janik and forward Barrett Heisten are expected to contribute right away. Both play with the U.S. Development Program and both were top recruits in the country.

“Experience is a strength. I don’t think we will be explosive, other than Stevie,” Walsh said. “Alfie will be a strength. The team is paying more attention to defense.”