The University of Maine’s hockey program has landed a defenseman from the United States National Team Development Program’s Under-17 team.

Ryan Hegarty of Arlington, Mass. has verbally committed to attend Maine beginning in the fall of 2008 according to his coach, John Hynes.

The 16-year-old Hegarty chose Maine over Harvard.

“He’s a big, strong kid with a very good shot,” said Hynes, who played at Boston University. “He’s good at the offensive blue line. He can one-time the puck and he gets the puck to the net well.”

Hynes also labeled him a “solid defender.

“He’s strong on his skates. He’s a physical player who does a good job on rushes, stepping up to close the gaps,” said Hynes. “And he does a really good job moving the puck up quickly.”

Hynes added that Hegarty is bright and highly motivated and is “very coachable.” He enjoys doing the video work and spending time in the weight room.

“He’s trying to turn himself into a real good self-starter,” said Hynes. “He wants to be a modern-day defenseman when he gets to Maine who can produce on both sides of the puck. And he’s still growing.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound Hegarty has “five or six goals and 10 or 12 assists”, according to Hynes, and he will move up to play for the NTDP’s Under-18 team next year.

“He’s going to be a good college player,” said Los Angeles Kings scout Bob Crocker. “He’s a good skater with nice hands and puck skills. He’s smart and he competes.”

Hegarty is a teammate of another Maine recruit, Kelen Corkum, son of former Bear winger Bob Corkum.

Corkum has missed two months with a concussion and probably won’t play again this season, according to Hynes. Corkum will join Hegarty with the Under-18s next year.

Bears held practice at USM

The University of Maine’s hockey team practiced at the University of Southern Maine’s Olympic-sized rink in Gorham on Thursday afternoon en route to Amherst, Mass. for their Hockey East quarterfinal series against UMass that begins Friday night.

The USM rink is Olympic-sized, 200 feet -by-100, which is closer to UMass’ Mullins Center’s dimensions (200-by-95) than the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena (200-by-85).

“It can’t hurt. It’s good to change things up. We don’t have school this week,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “UMass plays on a similar-size ice sheet and that’s good, especially for our goalies and defensemen.”

Gordon at NCAAs today

UMaine senior Arel Gordon will be the first Black Bear since 1999 to participate in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships when he competes today in the 60-meter dash at the University of Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center.

Gordon is the 16th-ranked runner with a seed time of 6.67 seconds. Clemson freshman Jacoby Ford has the top seed of 6.52.

The Rochester, N.Y., native set the Maine and America East conference records in the 55 meters this season with a time of 6.19 and owns the school and conference records in the 200 meters (21.29).

The preliminaries will start at 6:30 p.m. Gordon is slated to run in lane 4 of the second heat.

The finals will take place Saturday at 7:25 p.m.

Marble, Flaherty honored

University of Southern Maine women’s basketball player Ashley Marble and Bowdoin’s Eileen Flaherty were among the 40 finalists announced Thursday by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for its Kodak/WBCA All-America team for NCAA Division III.

The 10-member All-America team will be announced Thursday.

Marble, a 5-foot-9 forward from Topsfield, was named the Little East Conference Player of the Year for the third consecutive season and was the MVP of the LEC tournament after leading the Huskies to their 11th straight conference crown.

Flaherty, a senior forward from Fairfield, Conn., was the NESCAC Player of the Year and this year became Bowdoin’s all-time scoring leader for both men and women (1,694 points).