The University of Maine men’s hockey team, which lost three of the six defensemen who played in the 2-1 loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament this past season, has landed a premier blue-liner from Minnesota.

Mike Lundin, who had seven goals and 20 assists in 25 regular-season games and two tournament contests for Apple Valley High School last winter, said he will attend Maine in the fall.

The Eagles’ captain, who will turn 19 on Sept. 24, chose Maine over home state Western Collegiate Hockey Association members St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato.

“I enjoyed everything about Maine. I liked the campus and the coaches,” said Lundin, who feels it will be a perfect fit for him.

He also said he is fully aware that the Bears have some holes to fill on defense with Cliff Loya, Francis Nault, and Tommy Reimann moving on.

“That was another big reason [I chose Maine],” said the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Lundin, who was chosen the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Metro Player of the Year.

“He’s very good. He really impressed our whole coaching staff,” said Duluth East High School coach and 1976 U.S. Olympian Mike Randolph. “We play the toughest schedule in the state of Minnesota and he was, hands down, the best defenseman we saw.”

“He is very intelligent with the puck and he has a very good understanding of the game and the position,” said Randolph. “He’s a very good skater, he’s skilled with the puck, and he never got beat one-on-one.”

Randolph said Lundin reminds him of former University of Minnesota All-American Paul Martin, who just signed with the New Jersey Devils after helping lead the Gophers to back-to-back national championships.

“He’s very unselfish and has great vision,” said Randolph. “Maine will make him a pro player. Grant [Maine recruiting coordinator and assistant Grant Standbrook] has himself a dandy.”

Lundin, who quarterbacked the Apple Valley power play and logged a ton of ice time, is an all-around defenseman.

“I like to get involved in the offense if I can,” said Lundin who feels he needs to improve his strength and get used to the “much quicker pace” of college hockey.

UM football nationally ranked

The University of Maine football team, an NCAA Division I-AA Tournament participant the past two seasons, has been nationally ranked in four preseason polls.

Maine was ranked 11th in the Web site “www.1-AA.org” poll, 14th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches preseason rankings, 16th in The Sports Network’s poll, and 24th in the Athlon Sports Magazine’s 2003 College Football Preview.

Maine and the University of Montana, two of only three teams to make it to the NCAA I-AA quarterfinals the last two years, will open the season against each other on Aug. 30 at Orono’s Alfond Stadium.

The game will be televised nationally on College Sports Television.

Coffin returns to coach at Colby

Todd Coffin, Colby College’s first NCAA champion in any sport after he won the steeplechase title at the 1983 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field championships, has returned to his alma mater to coach the men’s cross country and track programs.

He will replace the man who recruited and coached him, Jim Wescott, who retired last spring after 25 years at the Waterville-based school.

Coffin earned a B.A. in geology from Colby in 1983 and an M.S. in geology from Purdue University (Ind.) in 1986 before working as a geologist in Texas, Massachusetts, and Maine.

The 1979 graduate of Morse High School in Bath, who now lives in Freeport, coached the men’s cross country and track programs at the University of Southern Maine in 1994-95 after serving as an assistant cross country coach at Bowdoin College from 1990-93.

“I was part of Jim’s first recruiting class. It’s really an honor and a privilege to take over for him,” said Coffin in a press release. “I sometimes feel a little daunted because he was so successful and respected. I had the best teacher I could possibly have.”