Four-official system proposed for college hockey

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University of Maine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead made two proposals at the annual American Hockey Coaches Association meetings in Florida late last month: A two-referee, two-linesman officiating system and four-on-four play in overtime.

Both are used in the NHL.

College hockey now has a one-referee, two-linesman system and plays five-on-five [excluding goalies] in overtime.

He likes the two-referee, two-linesman system because “it allows one of the referees to view the play as it comes toward them and gives you better coverage in front of the net [in case there’s a controversial goal],” said Whitehead. “It will also require us to recruit and develop young officials.”

He favors the four-on-four overtime because, “it would decrease the number of ties and allow our better players to have more room to operate. It would create a more exciting overtime.”

Whitehead said both proposals have been successful in the NHL .

The NCAA Rules Committee will have to decide on the proposals and, if the committee favors the changes, they would be sent to the Oversight Panel for approval, rejection or altering. Those committees meet in the summer or fall, so it is unlikely any changes would be implemented for 2006-07.

Whitehead said on a league-wide scale, the Hockey East coaches discussed implementing video replay for disputed goals.

“The NHL and WCHA already use it. That seems to be the way to go. The bottom line is, let’s get as many calls right as we can,” said Whitehead.

Bears open with Gophers

The UMaine Black Bears and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will kick off the college hockey season next October in the Hall of Fame game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The game will be played the weekend of Oct. 6-7.

Maine’s Whitehead said the exact date hasn’t been nailed down because the NHL hasn’t released its schedule yet. The NHL’s Minnesota Wild play at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Minnesota game will be the first of five consecutive nonleague games for Maine against 2005-2006 NCAA Tournament teams.

“I love our [nonleague] schedule,” Whitehead said. “It’ll be challenging. But it will be a lot of fun.”

Bemidji State (Minn.), the College Hockey America tournament champion, will visit Orono for a pair Oct. 13-14 and the Bears will travel to the University of North Dakota for two games Oct. 20-21.

The Gophers, who have played Maine in the NCAA Tournament three times in the past six seasons, went 27-9-5 this past season and were stunned by Holy Cross 4-3 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It was Minnesota’s sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Bemidji State went 20-14-3 last season and lost to eventual national champion Wisconsin 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was Bemidji State’s second straight NCAA tourney appearance.

North Dakota went 29-16-1 and made it to the Frozen Four where the Fighting Sioux were beaten by Boston College 6-5 in the semifinals. The Fighting Sioux have made the NCAA tourney four straight times.

In addition, the Bears have a December nonleague game in Portland against Mercyhurst (Pa.) of Atlantic Hockey. Mercyhurst went 22-13-1 and lost to Bentley 3-2 in the league semis.

Mercyhurst had been an NCAA tourney team three of the previous five years.

Maine will host the University of New Brunswick in a December exhibition game and, right after Christmas, Maine will face CCHA team Western Michigan, which was 10-24-6, in the first round of the Everblades College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla.

Two other 2005-2006 NCAA Tournament teams, Cornell (22-9-4) of the ECAC and Hockey East rival New Hampshire (20-13-7) will square off in the other Everblades semifinal.

Moore chosen Bears’ MVP

Senior right wing Greg Moore, a first-team All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist who led the Black Bears to a berth in the Frozen Four this past season, was named the team’s Most Valuable Player at the hockey banquet Friday at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

The Bear captain, who had 28 goals and 17 assists, also received the Stein Award, which recognizes the team’s inspirational leader, and the three-star award.

Senior defenseman Travis Wight was picked the best defensive player and received the unsung hero awards from the team and the Center Ice Club; goalie Ben Bishop was the rookie of the year and defenseman Simon Danis-Pepin was chosen the most improved player.

Junior left wing Brent Shepheard won the academic achievement award for the second straight year; senior center Jon Jankus won the perseverance award; UMass Lowell right wing Bobby Robins was the most honored opponent; the school’s pep band earned the spirit award and Paula Johnson won the Friends of Maine Hockey’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

Center Michel Leveille was named the captain of next year’s team and left wing Josh Soares and defenseman Mike Lundin were chosen assistant captains.

5 UMaine players honored

Three UMaine baseball players and two members of the softball team have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams.

Matt McGraw, Ryan Quintal, Scott Robinson and Brittany Cheney earned first-team honors, while Erin Provost was named to the second team.

McGraw, a designated hitter, is a junior business major with a 3.64 grade point average. He is batting .324 with 29 RBIs. Quintal, a senior business major with a 3.28 GPA, is batting .317 with 46 RBIs.

Robinson, a graduate student in kinesiology and physical education, owns a 4.00 GPA. The pitcher is 7-3 with a 5.23 earned run average, 56 strikeouts and four saves.

Cheney, a senior psychology and communications double major, boasts a 3.73 GPA. The America East first-team shortstop led UMaine with a .367 average, seven homers, 34 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

Provost, a senior communication sciences and disorders major, has a 3.89 GPA. The All-America East second-team choice hit .312 (5 HR, 32 RBIs).