Alfond Arena’s radio broadcast booth will be more crowded than usual Friday and Saturday nights as Bangor all-sports radio station WZON (620 AM) tries something different.

The Sports Zone’s regular broadcast crew will grow from two to three announcers as former University of Maine goaltender and color analyst Blair Marsh returns to the booth.

Marsh, who ended a six-year run with play-by-play man Dan Hannigan to move to western Canada two years ago, was invited back and will do his first of 12 games Friday when Maine hosts perennial power North Dakota in the first of a two-game series. He will join Hannigan and NEWS sportswriter/color analyst Larry Mahoney, who replaced Marsh two years ago, to call the action.

“The design is to go for three men in the booth this weekend because it’s the home opener series and we do want to introduce Blair back into our coverage,” said WZON program director Dale Duff. “We’re going to try it and rotate them around.”

Mahoney will do about 20 home games this season.

“Well, it’s an interesting experiment. We don’t shy away from trying new things at WZON,” Hannigan said with a chuckle. “It’ll definitely be fun and it should be a great atmosphere.

“We have enough microphones, but it’s a question of the amount of time we have to talk. Hey, if it works out, maybe we’ll try NASCAR.”

Marsh, who is now a pharmaceutical sales representative, last manned the goal for the Black Bears as a senior in 1996.

“Between Larry and Blair and Dan, I think we have enough experience and hockey history in there,” said Duff. “It should be entertaining and informative. One thing’s for sure, we shouldn’t miss anything.”

Friday’s game starts at 8 p.m. while Saturday’s begins at 7 p.m. Satellite TV network College Sports Television (CSTV) is televising Friday’s game live.

Painting a Portrait of Whitehead

Bangor television station WABI will air a feature on University of Maine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead Saturday evening. Whitehead will be profiled in Portraits, a half-hour, recurring special public affairs program that is now in its second season.

WABI camera crews spent time with Whitehead on and off the ice for the special, which features interviews with Whitehead, his family, and players. The program will air at 6:30 p.m. as a lead-in for WABI’s live broadcast of Saturday’s 7 p.m. Maine-North Dakota hockey game.

Mules kick off on radio, Internet

Colby College football fans can catch all the action from Saturday’s home game against Wesleyan University either on the radio or on the Internet.

The 1 p.m. game will be broadcast live by Colby radio station WMHB (89.7 FM) on the air and the station broadcast will also be carried live via Web cast at the www.colby.edu/wmhb/ Web site.

WMHB will also air three more White Mules games this season: Oct. 23 vs. Hamilton College, Oct. 30 vs. Bates College, and Nov. 13 vs. Bowdoin College.

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