UMaine hockey practice feels unusual to players New coach dismisses two for numerous violation

ORONO – The booming voice over the microphone that resonated throughout the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena was missing.

But the fast-paced, high-energy tempo and physical intensity that were the trademarks of a Shawn Walsh practice were exactly the same Wednesday as the Black Bears had their first on-ice practice after the death of their longtime coach Monday.

Walsh, who led the Bears to two national championships, 11 NCAA Tournament and seven Frozen Four appearances in his 17 seasons, died due to complications from kidney cancer. He had compiled a 399-215-44 record.

Former Maine assistant Tim Whitehead, who spent the past five seasons as the head coach at UMass-Lowell, will be the interim head coach. He led the Bears through their paces along with 13-year recruiting coordinator and assistant coach Grant Standbrook and second-year assistant Matt Thomas.

“It went better than I thought it would,” said junior forward-defenseman Tommy Reimann. “I thought guys would be missing passes, but they didn’t. It was high-tempo.”

He said returning to the ice was therapeutic and Walsh would have wanted them out there.

“I think he’s probably ticked we took yesterday [Tuesday] off,” grinned Reimann. “He loved the first day of practice. He would speak to the people in the stands. It’s different without him. I didn’t hear ‘This isn’t Billings [where Reimann played junior hockey]’ over the microphone.”

Senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf said it was “weird” without Walsh “especially when we stepped on the ice.”

“I made the sign of the cross and looked up into the rafters. I know he’s looking down on us,” said Metcalf.

“But it was good for us to go out and get our frustrations out. It was good to hit people. And we had our new sticks and new equipment. It was like Christmas,” said Metcalf. “I miss not hearing coach yell at me. He made you mad, but that made the rest of practice better because you wanted to prove him wrong.”

Reimann and Metcalf were impressed by the newcomers.

“We’ve got some new guys who can really shoot the puck,” said Reimann.

“And they weren’t intimidated at all,” said Metcalf.

One of the happiest Bears had to be Colin Shields.

Shields found out right before the opener against the University of North Dakota last year that he had been ruled ineligible for the season because he had attended a junior college in Cleveland, where he played junior hockey.

He was allowed to practice with the team.

“I’m really excited. I’ve got so much energy. It was hard to get up for practice last year because I knew I couldn’t play in the games. Getting to play in the games at the end of the year was nice,” said Shields referring to his stint for Great Britain in the World B Pool Championships in Slovenia in April.

He was the third-leading goal scorer in the tourney as the Glasgow, Scotland, native had six goals and three assists in five games.

Freshman forward Ben Murphy said it was “tough to get Coach Walsh off my mind, but I’m sure he’d want us to move on.”

Murphy and fellow freshman Chad Anderson said the upperclassmen have made the newcomers’ transition to college hockey and life easier.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve been on as far as everybody getting along,” said Anderson.

“They’ve been great to us,” said Murphy.

Whitehead said he was “pleased with the intensity level and the focus of the players.”

He announced that sophomore winger Brendan Donovan and redshirt freshman defenseman Justin Barauskas have been dismissed from the team for violating a variety of team rules dating back to last season.

“Over the summer, Shawn [Walsh] specified changes each of them needed to make. They didn’t comply,” said Whitehead.

Donovan, who had 10 points in an injury-marred 15-game freshman season, was issued a summons on assault charges over the weekend.

Three other players, Niko Dimitrakos, Don Richardson, and Paul Lynch, received one-practice suspensions for what Whitehead termed “a very minor violation” of team rules.