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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – David Capuano is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.
In fact, he played on the first two University of Maine Frozen Four teams.
The two-time first-team eastern All-American took time out from his job as a stockbroker Wednesday to watch his former team practice at the Providence Civic Center.
Capuano’s 1987-88 and 1988-89 Maine teams were eliminated in the semifinals by Lake Superior State and Minnesota, respectively. He signed with the Vancouver Canucks after his junior year.
Capuano said Maine coach Shawn Walsh and assistant Grant Standbrook are the reasons the Bears have made five more Frozen Four appearances since the 1988-89 season and have corralled two national championships.
“Shawn has done a tremendous job and Grant’s recruiting has been a key. They don’t just recruit big-name players but they also find [productive] guys who weren’t wanted by other schools,” said Capuano, who lives in his native Cranston, R.I.
Capuano, who had 89 goals and 122 assists in three seasons at Maine, has followed Maine since he left the school and said their most recent teams are “a little deeper than the Maine teams I played on. They’re a little bigger and they have a little more speed.
“But we probably had more fun than any other Maine team,” said Capuano, whose playing career ended four years ago. A back ailment contributed to his decision to leave the game.
He is now coaching his 9-year-old son Max’s mite A team that is 17-0-1 and vying for the state title.
“It has been fun. Max didn’t start playing until two years ago,” said David, who was introduced to several Maine players by Walsh.
PGA’s Faxon turns out for Walsh
An even bigger celebrity on hand for Wednesday’s practice before Maine’s Frozen Four game against North Dakota was PGA Tour member Brad Faxon.
Faxon and Walsh have been friends for several years after meeting through a mutual friend: Faxon’s former caddy Cubby Burke. Burke formally coached hockey and was involved in the Sun Valley (Idaho) hockey school at which Walsh has taught.
“I’ve talked to him once in a while and we played a few holes at the Portland Country Club a few years ago,” said Faxon. “FleetBank had put this thing together.
“Shawn and I had a few things going on personally, family-wise, at the time. We had some things in common. He was great,” said Faxon, a Barrington, R.I., native. “Every once in a while, when he’s down here, I give him a buzz.”
Due to a change in qualifying criteria made a year ago, Faxon won’t be playing in the Masters this weekend after playing in the last eight Masters.
“I was 23rd on the money list last year and they used to take the top 24. But they changed it to the top 16,” explained a disappointed and miffed Faxon. “And they used to allow you to play if you won a tour event. If Gary Nicklaus won last weekend, he wouldn’t have gotten in, either. And to not have somebody with that name get in, the Masters would have had egg on its face.
“But I’ll still watch it on TV,” added Faxon, who loves the tournament.
Faxon is a former hockey player who said he hasn’t been able to keep up with the sport because of his grueling schedule.
“I was gone 57 out of 63 days during a recent stretch so I didn’t see much hockey at all, unfortunately,” said Faxon. “I grew up playing hockey and there used to be a couple of golf tournaments in which caddies and golfers got to play hockey.”
He has played hockey at benefits with several hockey players and said former Pittsburgh Penguins great and current owner Mario Lemieux “has one of the best golf swings I’ve ever seen. It’s perfect.”
He said he always found it curious that hockey players who shoot the puck lefthanded usually play golf righthanded and vice versa.
“I’ve played tennis with [Jim] Courier and [Jimmy] Connors and they both play golf lefthanded. That’s because of the two-handed backhand they use in tennis,” said Faxon.
Faxon said the rise of Tiger Woods has been great for the growth of the sport.
UMass names Cahoon coach
The University of Massachusetts named Don Cahoon hockey coach on Wednesday, picking the site of the NCAA final four for an announcement the school hopes will begin a climb to national prominence.
“He’s ready to go,” athletic director Bob Marcum said after hiring Cahoon away from Princeton, where he had worked the last nine years and led the Tigers to their first-ever conference tournament championship in 1998.
Cahoon was 180-167-36 in a head coaching career that also includes three years at Norwich and one at Lehigh. Marcum said Cahoon will get a four-year deal that will be reviewed after the first year, paying $125,000 a year, plus incentives.
UMass reinstated its hockey program in 1993 and went 77-144-18 under Joe Mallen, whose contract was not renewed after an 11-20-5 season.
Blais: Bears do the `little things’
University of North Dakota coach Dean Blais said one of the keys behind Maine’s success has been its attention to detail.
“They do all the little things you have to do [to be successful]. They have faceoff plays and they do a good job in defensive zone coverages. They don’t leave people alone. And you don’t get many three-on-twos and two-on-ones against them,” said Blais.
Blais was an assistant at North Dakota and his associate head coach, Scott Sandelin, was a former player during the days of the interlocking scheduling agreement between the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and Hockey East.
“I used to love coming out here,” said Blais. “BU and BC were the powers back then (1984-85 through 1987-88),” said Blais. “You always had to be on top of your game. And the kids liked it because they’d get to walk around and see the different sites.”
Four Sioux have title ring from ’97
There are four Fighting Sioux who played in their 1997 national championship game win (6-4) over Boston University in Milwaukee.
All four seniors, Peter Armbrust, Brad DeFauw, Tim O’Connell and Jason Ulmer, will graduate on time.
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