Walsh’s aura still surrounds UM players

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The phone rang at 11:15 p.m. The work shift had ended and the coat was on.

“Hello, sports.”

Slight pause.

“North Dakota 3, St. Cloud 1,” said the deliberate voice.

Former University of Maine hockey coach Shawn Walsh, who died Monday after a brave struggle with kidney cancer, would then inform the reporter how that result impacted his team in its bid to earn an NCAA Tournament spot.

He had all the numbers, like the Ratings Percentage Index, and knew that the result either helped or hurt his team.

He was a character who turned a struggling program into one of the best in the country. Several former players say Maine hockey now has the same connotation as Notre Dame football.

His burning desire to win cost him some friends in the coaching ranks.

Big deal.

He often said he didn’t take the Maine job to make friends.

He just wanted to win hockey games.

His work ethic was second to none and his intelligence and common sense were remarkable.

Then there was his sense of humor.

“I came back to school with long hair and long sideburns last year,” recalled Maine senior winger Gray Shaneberger. “He called me into his office.

“He looked at me and didn’t say a word. It seemed like forever but it was probably only one or two minutes. He shook his head and said, ‘What are you doing to yourself. Cut your hair and your sideburns. See you later,” grinned Shaneberger.

Walsh instituted the Kangaroo Court in which players and coaches are fined for various on- and off-ice behavior.

“He was the most fined. And he always had a rebuttal,” grinned senior defenseman Peter Metcalf.

One of Walsh’s many strengths was he didn’t hold grudges. If a player had a bad weekend, he pointed out his mistakes the next day and if that player had a good practice week and eliminated the mistakes, he was back in the lineup.

“I didn’t dress for a game and I was home in bed with a cold. It was the Governor’s Cup Tournament in New Hampshire,” recalled former defenseman Robert Ek. “Nate Ponitz hurt his neck in the first game and coach Walsh wanted me to play in the next game. I told him I couldn’t. So we had to play five defensemen.

“A week later, he told me he was mad at me for not playing. In looking back, I probably could have played. But he told me he would never hold it against me,” said Ek.

Walsh didn’t because he knew Ek could be a productive player and help the team down the road.

Which he did.

Walsh had this aura about him. He was charismatic, dynamic and brash.

Former Bear All-American David Capuano said his 10-year-old son Max met Walsh only twice but Walsh left a lasting impression on him.

Walsh suggested Max skate with the team before a game at Brown University last season.

Max participated in the drills.

“He wanted to play for Shawn at Maine,” said Capuano who was also deeply saddened by the loss of Walsh.

I can’t say I knew him outside of hockey.

But, as his close friend Alan Miller said, Walsh was a “lot of fun” and matured tremendously thanks to wife Lynne.

He became a real family man.

If Walsh had one final minute to address his team, Metcalf speculated he would have told them, “Keep improving not just in hockey but in life. Become a better person, not just a better hockey player. Don’t take things for granted. Call your mother. Tell her you love her.”

Larry Mahoney’s column appears each Wednesday. He can be contacted at 1-800-810-8600, 990-8231 or by e-mail at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net