UMaine practice changes> Bears start skating in Bouchard Arena

The University of Maine’s defending national champion hockey team will have its first on-ice practice at Brewer’s Bouchard Arena on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

They will also practice there on Sunday morning before scheduling a night practice at Alfond Arena.

There have been delays in the installation of the new boards and glass at the Alfond, which has prompted the switch to Bouchard.

The boards being replaced are the originals from 1976.

“We just put the ice in. The boards are up and the framework for the glass is up. But we are still waiting for some poles for the glass,” said Jim Dyer, Maine assistant athletic director for operations. “We’re hoping to get everything together this weekend.”

There was a one-day delay in the start of the project, according to Dyer, and another day was lost when a construction worker drilled a hole in a pipe containing ammonium hydroxide, forcing 10 people to be evacuated.

The Alfond Arena project will cost $110,000 and, according to Dyer, will also include new team benches and goal judge boxes.

Maine coach Shawn Walsh is taking the situation in stride and said the only change he has made is to schedule only the one practice on Saturday instead of two.

“There’s no use busing back and forth twice,” said Walsh, who has compensated by making Saturday’s practice longer than usual.

Lou Janicki, the owner of Bouchard Arena, said he has increased the thickness of the ice surface from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches to accommodate the Bears.

“The ice is very good now but when you get 33 players of this caliber, they skate so hard that the ice gets chewed up (quickly). By the time they’re done, the ice is very bad,” said Janicki, who enjoys having the Bears at Bouchard.

“It’s fun. No question about it,” said Janicki, who charges $160 per hour for ice this time of year.

Repeating uncommon in hockey

Maine seeks to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Boston University did in 1971 and ’72.

Why is it so difficult to repeat?

“The number of scholarships,” answered Walsh. “We have 18 scholarships and usually 24-25 guys play at least 50 percent of the games. If you look at basketball, they have 13 scholarships and how many play a lot of minutes? Nine or 10? Football ranges from 63 to 95 scholarships and you might have 40 who play a lot.

“With the nuances of the sport, there is an unpredictability in hockey. There’s more of a level playing field in our sport than in any other,” said Walsh, who added that goalies can singlehandedly decide games.

Maine senior co-captain Cory Larose said, “There’s so much parity in college hockey. A lot of teams could have won the national title last year. We won two overtime games (vs. Boston College 2-1 and New Hampshire 3-2 in the Frozen Four). A goal here or there and we aren’t the national champions.”