Black Bears traveling together on Christmas Men’s hockey, women’s basketball head to Fla.

ORONO – The word “charter” was music to the ears of University of Maine defenseman Mike Lundin and his brother Matt.

The Black Bear men’s hockey and women’s basketball teams took a charter flight together from Bangor International Airport to Florida Sunday night because both will be playing in tournaments there this week.

The hockey team will play in the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla., on Tuesday and Wednesday nights while the women’s basketball team will play in the Hurricane Holiday Classic in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Both teams took commercial flights at this time last year and the trips were nightmarish. The hockey team went to Estero and the women’s basketball team played in the Lady Griz Holiday Classic in Montana.

The Lundin brothers and freshman defenseman Tim Maxwell, who has since transferred to Bowling Green State University, never got their luggage or hockey equipment and had to take a 165-mile cab ride from Orlando to Estero. Their flight from Detroit to Bangor was canceled, and the only way they could get to Florida was by flying to Houston and then to Orlando.

The Maine women’s basketball team was stranded in Detroit.

“That was the worst. We had to stay there overnight on Christmas Day and then we had to fly out the next morning,” said junior forward Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor.

Mike Lundin, who pointed out that his hockey sticks were the only things of his that arrived in Florida last year, said he had heard they were contemplating a charter “and I’ve been praying ever since.”

His prayers were answered.

“That was real good news,” said Lundin, who wound up wearing equipment owned by players of the East Coast Hockey League’s Florida Everblades. “This will make the trip short. It’ll be a straight shot. It’ll be easy.”

Maine senior defenseman Travis Wight said the trip has been an organizational disaster in previous years as players were flying in from all over the country.

“Now we can fly down there as a team and we don’t have to worry about it,” said Wight.

Senior center Derek Damon of Bangor said, “Christmastime is one of the busiest times of the year to travel” and getting to Florida on a commercial flight is “such a hassle.”

“This way, we can get down there in three hours instead of spending the whole day traveling and feeling jet lagged the next few days,” said Damon.

Junior guard Ashley Underwood of Augusta is also relieved.

“We left in the morning last year, but it didn’t matter because all the flights were delayed. So we had to stay in the airport all day. We were worried about getting our luggage. This way, we can all get down there and both teams know all their stuff is going to get there,” said Underwood.

The players were looking forward to traveling together, a rarity for Division I teams.

Senior right wing and captain Greg Moore said the “whole athletic department at Maine is pretty close. We have a good relationship with them. We go to their home games and they’ll come to ours. It’ll be fun to travel with them.”

Sophomore wing Wes Clark said it will “definitely be good for the school. We’ll get to meet some people we haven’t met in the athletic department. It’ll definitely be a bonding experience.”

Underwood has similar feelings.

“It’ll be really cool,” said Underwood. “We saw them at our games against Dartmouth and Rhode Island. We got to go to a lot of their games [during our preseason]. We’re good friends with a lot of guys on the team.”

The players on both teams said they are used to having abbreviated holidays. They take them in stride.

“You give up a lot being an athlete. But I spend the whole year with these girls, so it’s just like they’re family. Spending time with them on Christmas is truly a blessing,” said Barker, who spent four days with her own family.

Moore agreed, saying, “We all like being together anyway. We enjoy it.”