MINNEAPOLIS – In the movie Field of Dreams, one of the catchphrases is “If you build it, they will come.”

University of Maine athletic director Patrick Nero is hoping that a proposed new arena in downtown Portland, to replace the aging Cumberland County Civic Center, gains approval in order to give the university an opportunity to host an NCAA hockey tournament regional.

He has talked to Joe Boulos and other members of the group that hope to build the facility and received a favorable response from them.

“He has showed me the designs and some of the blueprints,” said Nero. “It’s a first-class arena. It will also have a convention center and a hotel. It’s the type of facility, with 10,000 seats, that would be perfect for a regional.

“It would be a great facility for hockey and for everything that goes around the tournament.”

He said CCCC Authority administrator Steve Crane, who would “move over and run the new facility” with his staff, shares his optimism.

“Steve and I are together on how much we would love to host a regional,” said Nero.

If the facility is built, it would be finished in 2008 or 2009, according to Nero.

“If you look at the history [of the NCAA regionals], they [NCAA] have a rotation. Our hope is we could get Portland into the rotation so we could host it at least every third year or so,” said Nero.

Since the University of Maine would be the host school, the Black Bears would get to play at that regional as long as they qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Nero also said he would like to see New York City’s Madison Square Garden place a bid to host the Frozen Four.

“That would be a great place,” said Nero.

This year’s Frozen Four will be held at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on April 7 but the next three sites will be at Midwest or West sites: Milwaukee (2006), St. Louis (2007), and Denver (2008).

“The only East Coast facility that could host a Frozen Four would be the FleetCenter and I know BU has put in another bid [to host the Frozen Four at the FleetCenter] hoping they can get into that rotation,” said Nero.

Next year’s regionals will be held in the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., the Worcester (Mass.) Centrum, the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis., and at Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

They have also been selected for 2007: Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., and the Pepsi Center in Denver.