AMHERST, Mass. – University of Maine hockey coach Tim Whitehead was behind the bench for Friday night’s game against the University of Massachusetts although it has been a trying week for the fourth-year coach.

His mother, Eleanor Ferguson-Whitehead, died Monday after a brief illness. She was 87.

Whitehead was with his mother in Bangor on Monday when she died and was with family members throughout the week.

He returned to practice on Thursday and then boarded the bus with the team for the trip to Amherst.

“My thoughts keep drifting to my mom and my family. But that’s a good thing,” said Whitehead before Friday’s game.

Visiting hours will be Sunday from 5:30-7:30 in Portland and the funeral will be Monday at 10 a.m. at State Street Church in Portland.

He said he was “very close” to his mother.

“My father [Harlan] died when I was in college. She was a great influence in my life,” said Whitehead.

He said his mother, who was a Portland native, was “real happy” when he came to Maine to serve as an assistant at Maine in 1990-91 and when he returned in 2001. He was an assistant in 2001 but took the team over when Shawn Walsh died of complications from kidney cancer.

His mother had been living with his sister, Priscilla, in Washington D.C. until moving to Bangor on Thanksgiving weekend.

Whitehead also has a half-brother, Charlie.