Memories spur Mainers to Frozen Four experience

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BOSTON – This is the University of Maine’s ninth appearance in a Frozen Four but it will be the first for the three Maine natives on the roster: Bangor center Derek Damon, Lisbon left wing Greg Moore and Randolph goalie Ray Jean. All are sophomores.

Damon, Moore and Jean grew up watching the Black Bears play in Frozen Fours and carry with them fond memories.

“I remember seeing Maine win its first national championship in 1993,” Damon said. “I was watching it at home with my parents [Doug and Cherie]. It was unbelievable. I was able to experience their second national championship [’99] with my high school [St. Dominic] teammates. We had just won a state [Class A] championship and that was a pretty neat experience. I’ve also been able to go to some Frozen Fours and now, being in it, it’s a totally different situation.

“There were a couple hundred people at the pep rally this week. It really means a lot to the school, to the fans and to the state of Maine. We’ve drawn such tremendous support from people throughout the state,” said Damon.

Jean said he was at lacrosse practice when Maine won the ’99 title.

“Somebody drove the car out on the field and they had the game on the radio,” said Jean. “It means a lot to the state and every kid who plays hockey here. Hockey is huge in the state, especially the University of Maine.”

Moore said the 1993 national championship run “seems like yesterday.”

“I remember rushing home from school to see them play Michigan,” said Moore. “The whole state of Maine gets together for it. Everybody in the state cares about it.”

Now Damon, Moore and Jean will be experiencing it.

4 Bears earn All-East status

The University of Maine placed four players on the Jofa second-team Eastern All-American team: sophomore goalie Jimmy Howard and seniors Prestin Ryan, Todd Jackson and Colin Shields.

“I’m very happy for them,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “For Jimmy to make it as a sophomore is great. And all three seniors have elevated their games to an elite level and have led the way this year.”

Whitehead said the loss of three defensemen and scorers who produced 60.7 percent of the offense last season left a lot of question marks entering the season, but the leadership and production of the seniors helped the team overcome the odds.

Ryan has four goals and 17 assists and leads the Bears in plus-minus at plus-35; Shields is the team’s leading scorer with 18 goals and 26 assists and is plus-32; Jackson is the team’s top goal scorer with 21 to go with 12 assists and is plus-22, and Howard is 13-3-3 with a 1.20 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage. Howard, who has six shutouts, leads the nation in goals-against average and save percentage.

Avenging Eaves eager for matchup

Boston College’s Eaves brothers have a little extra motivation to beat Maine at the Frozen Four, because the Black Bears already have knocked their father, Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, out of postseason play.

Maine edged Wisconsin to advance to the national semifinals, but Ben Eaves, a senior forward for BC, and brother Patrick, a sophomore forward for the Eagles, are both downplaying the win-one-for-dad angle.

“No, not at all. We just want to go out there and get a win,” said Patrick.

“Oh yeah, I guess that’s kind of another side note, for sure. It would have been nice to see the Badgers here, but I’m pretty excited to play Maine again,” said Ben Eaves, a native of Faribalt, Minn. “They beat us up there twice at the end of the year. I just think it’s going to be a good test for us.”

The Eaves wound up together at Boston College for two reasons: Ben wanted to go to school in another part of the country and BC seemed like the right fit, and the brothers have grown close as the family has moved several times over the years to follow their father’s coaching career.

“I think we’re very fortunate that Michael was not coaching at Wisconsin when Ben was eligible to go to school because wherever Ben was going to go, Patrick was going to follow,” said BC coach Jerry York. “They’re extremely tight and they’ve moved so much following Mike’s career that they became best friends. You move into a town, it’s hard to make friends right off the bat and when your brother is fairly close in age, you really became good friends.”

The Eaves family has moved from Pittsburgh to Finland to Minnesota over the years, just to name a few places.

“We’ve been playing together ever since my dad built a rink in the back yard when I was 3 or 4 years old,” said Ben Eaves.

Neither brother has regretted his decision to go to BC, and it’s surprisingly not a point of contention in the family, not even jokingly.

“No, it’s not too bad. We all support each other and I’m really happy with my decision. They support us,” Patrick said, referring to his parents. “I’m really satisfied with my decision. I’m in the right place. I just like being with him and being in the same environment. It’s great to be on the ice and look over and see him out there.”

OCS ticket effort falls short

Despite considerable background work by Operation Community Support, it’s unlikely members of the National Guard’s 112th Medical Co. of Bangor – which returned home Tuesday from a tour of duty in Iraq – will be attending today’s NCAA Frozen Four semifinal between Maine and Boston College.

Wal Mart of Bangor did announce Wednesday a $2,500 contribution to OCS, but OCS representatives were unable to line up tickets or access to any FleetCenter corporate suites in time for the game.

“Wal Mart really came through,” said OCS representative Skip Chappelle, “and those funds could be used for such things as hockey tickets, but we haven’t got anything working yet in terms of tickets.”

If tickets had been secured, arrangements were made with Blue Hill Limousine Service to drive members of the 112th and their families to Thursday’s game.

Chappelle holds out hope that some members of the 112th possibly could attend Saturday’s night’s national championship game if Maine were to advance. In that case, tickets might be more available for Saturday’s contest, he said, because fans of the two teams that lose in the semifinals might not need their championship-game tickets.

“I haven’t talked to the Guard about it yet, but we might be still on for Saturday night,” Chappelle said.