The bid to host an NCAA Hockey Tournament regional in Portland submitted by the University of Maine and the Cumberland County Civic Center was rejected by the NCAA’s Ice Hockey Committee on Friday.

Ice hockey committee chairman Ian McCaw said the Mullins Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst will be the site of the Northeast Regional in 2005. The Worcester (Mass.) Centrum previously had been awarded the Eastern Regional for 2005.

McCaw, the athletic director at UMass and former associate AD at Maine, said there was also a bid from Maine and the Cumberland County Civic Center for 2007 but Rochester, N.Y. and Manchester, N.H., were awarded the Eastern and Northeast regionals, respectively.

Manchester will host its first regional next season. Portland has never hosted a regional.

“Naturally we’re disappointed we didn’t get the regional this time around,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead.

“We’re aggressively going to pursue future NCAA regionals.”

McCaw said “financial considerations and the facilities” were the two primary criteria for choosing regional and Frozen Four sites.

The Cumberland County Civic Center lists a capacity of 6,733 while the Mullins Center can hold 8,389. Manchester can seat 10,000, Rochester holds 11,000, Worcester can seat 12,400 and Albany has a capacity of 15,000.

Under NCAA bylaws, McCaw was not allowed to participate in the vote on the 2005 regional sites because his institution had submitted one of the bids.

He would not comment on speculation that the Maine bid was significantly lower than the other five eastern bids.

The Mullins Center, which opened in 1993, is much newer than the Cumberland County Civic Center as well as being able to hold 1,656 more fans. The Cumberland County Civic Center was built in the mid-1970s.

Two factors that should have worked in Maine’s favor were its postseason success and high attendance.

UMass, a Hockey East member since 1994-95, has never qualified for an NCAA tournament while Maine has earned 13 NCAA berths since the 1986-87 season. Maine is more likely to qualify for the NCAA tournament than UMass.

Also, UMass averaged just 2,796 fans per game this past season to Maine’s 4,985 at Alfond Arena in Orono. Maine has averaged 6,336 in its last two appearances at the Cumberland County Civic Center, so Maine is much more likely to fill the CCCC.

Maine athletic director Patrick Nero could not be reached for comment although he released a statement echoing Whitehead’s disappointment.

“It was our hope to bring a regional to the great hockey fans in the state of Maine,” said Nero. “We will continue to work with the NCAA to try to lure championship competition to the state.”

The next time bids will be accepted will be 2005 and that will be for the regionals from 2008 to 2011 as well as Frozen Fours from 2009 to 2011.

St. Louis’ Savvis Center, home of the NHL’s Blues, and Denver’s Pepsi Center, home ice for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, were awarded the Frozen Fours for 2007 and 2008 on Friday.

Ron Grahame, who will take over for McCaw as the chairman of the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee on Sept. 1, said the likelihood of the Cumberland County Civic Center hosting a regional beginning with the 2008 season isn’t promising.

The arena will be a few years older and Grahame explained that the dramatic growth of college hockey has resulted in better venues for the regionals.

“Facilities that are newer and have higher capacities are more attractive to the committee,” said Grahame, the associate AD at Denver. “I’m not saying Portland has eliminated itself but it’s healthy for the committee to be able to look at a number of alternatives.”

One of the positives for Portland is the fact it is considered a neutral site.

McCaw said the 2007 regionals mark the first time there won’t be a campus site used for a regional.

“That was based on feedback we received from the coaching community,” said McCaw, noting that coaches have voiced displeasure over the inequality of playing a regional at an opponent’s home rink.

McCaw said the number of bids for regionals and Frozen Fours has increased in “quality and quantity” during his four years on the committee.

Grahame pointed out that the 2003-2004 Frozen Four, at Boston’s FleetCenter, is already sold out.

“This is the fifth consecutive year and seventh time in the last eight years it will be sold out,” said Grahame, a former NHL goalie who spent a season with the Boston Bruins.