The University of Maine has an incoming 6-foot-6 goalie in Ben Bishop and now they’ll have a 6-6 defenseman.

Simon Danis-Pepin said he has verbally committed to attend Maine beginning next week.

The Bears just lost a recruited defenseman when Keith Yandle failed to earn the necessary grades during summer school that would have enabled him to be eligible this fall.

The 17-year-old Danis-Pepin, a native of Vaudreuil, Quebec, had six goals and 31 assists in 39 games for Gatineau in Midget AAA this past season.

He had two goals and three assists in seven games during the Canadian Midget AAA (Telus Cup) Championships as he helped his team collect the silver medal. He was tied for second among all defenseman in scoring and was voted the tourney’s Most Sportsmanlike player.

According to Gatineau General Manager Alain Sanscartier, Danis-Pepin was “one of the top offensive defensemen in Midget AAA. He’s a very good passer and he’s respectable defensively.”

Sanscartier feels Danis-Pepin is a legitimate pro prospect.

“He has a lot of potential,” said Sanscartier.

The 210-pound Danis-Pepin said he was immediately impressed when he visited the Orono campus in the spring.

“I had a real good relationship with coach [Tim] Whitehead and coach [Grant] Standbrook. We clicked right away. And it was a beautiful campus,” said Danis-Pepin. “I’m excited about coming.”

This summer, Danis-Pepin participated in the Canadian National Under-18 camp in Kitchener, Ontario, for the country’s top 40 players.

Danis-Pepin said several colleges had expressed interest him “but they wanted me to wait a year.”

So he had intended to play for the New Hampshire Monarchs in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

“But after the Under-18 camp, I changed my mind. I wanted to play at a higher level right away,” said Danis-Pepin.

He said he intends to “work as hard as I can to try to earn as much ice time as I can.”

Danis-Pepin will be a scholarship player but his coming to Maine will depend on his admission to the school.

Husson hosts exhibition today

The third-year Husson College football program will receive a productive benchmark on Saturday when it hosts a formidable Bridgewater State (Mass.) team in a 2 p.m. exhibition game.

Bridgewater State returns 18 starters, including six all-conference players, from a team that went 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the New England Football Conference a year ago. The Bears, who return 10 starters on offense, are led by the school’s fourth all-time leading rusher, Brenden Kavey, whose 1310 rushing yards in 2004 set a school single-season record.

Husson returns 17 starters, nine on offense and eight on defense, from a team that went 2-7 a year ago. Coach Gabby Price had a record 115 players in training camp.

All proceeds from the game will be donated to the Red Cross to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There will be no admission charge but donations will be accepted.

Seward named UML assistant

Gouldsboro native Will Seward, who spent two seasons as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Norwich University (Vt.) after a year as a graduate assistant at Boston University, has been named an assistant coach at UMass-Lowell.

The 25-year-old Seward played three years of basketball at Springfield College (Mass.). He graduated from Springfield in 2002 with a degree in physical education and earned a master’s degree in physical education from BU with a concentration on athletic administration and coaching.

Seward played soccer and baseball in addition to basketball at East Sullivan’s Sumner High School from where he graduated in 1998.