If there’s one thing that has allowed Bangor television station WABI (Channel 5) to distinguish itself from others in the state, it’s the willingness of station officials to not only encourage, but to actively pursue relationships with other stations.

It’s that cooperative spirit which allowed local viewers to see more Boston Red Sox telecasts the last three years on both WABI and Bangor’s WBGR (Ch. 33, Adelphia cable channel 9); various University of Maine sports contests; and postseason games involving the UMaine women’s basketball team, hockey and football teams over the years.

Most recently, it will result in the airing of the Maine-New Hampshire hockey game from the Verizon Center in Manchester, N.H., Saturday Feb. 1.

The soldout Hockey East game is a rematch between the intense rivals of a late December game won by Maine in overtime.

“We think this will be great to get this game on in this market, especially for those people who can’t go to it,” said WABI vice-president and general manager Mike Young. “And given the nature of the rivalry between these two teams, it’s the magnitude of a playoff game. From what we understand, there are no tickets to purchase and it’s been sold out for weeks.”

Young said the broadcast will be a slight derivation of the standard turnkey type of telecast in that WABI will send its own announcers to provide play-by-play and analysis plus a producer, but all other aspects of the broadcast will be handled by Manchester ABC affiliate WMUR (Ch. 9).

This fledgling, cooperative relationship between the two stations basically started back in August, when Young talked to WMUR general manager Jeff Bartlett and offered him a chance to pick up WABI’s broadcasts of Maine-New Hampshire football and/or hockey games the weekend of Dec. 22-23.

It didn’t hurt that Bartlett, who was unavailable for comment due to a family emergency, used to live in Bangor and attended Bangor High School in the 1970s.

“That made doing the deal a lot easier. I think we might have collaborated on a football game back along too, but that was basically how things began,” Young said. “Even though they were unable to do the games because of programming conflicts, it kind of got things started.”

Earlier this year, Bartlett returned the favor and offered WABI the chance to take WMUR’s feed for the Feb. 1 game in return for an undisclosed fee.

Although the relationship is non-binding and non-contractual, Young sees it as an ongoing one which should benefit both stations as well as their viewers.

“It has to be informal at this point because we both have obligations to our respective networks and syndicators,” Young said. “The only relationship we have is one of spirit and commitment to work together. We’re both enthusiastic about broadcasting possibilities for each other.”

Regular WABI hockey announcers Joe Carr and Mike Toole will call the action.

“Hey, we had to do something to make sure it wasn’t all pro-New Hampshire for that broadcast,” Young said with a chuckle.

The timing of the Maine-UNH broadcast is ideal for WABI as the station is already airing a Maine-Hartford women’s basketball game Feb. 1 at noon and the Maine-Hartford men’s basketball game Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.

“Whenever we have the opportunity to do an away game, we work hard to make that happen,” Young said. “It worked out very well for us that particular weekend because we could fit it into our schedule and it went along with the two other broadcasts we’re doing.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or ANeff@bangordailynews.net