On Wednesday, as Tim Whitehead prepared his Black Bears to face Michigan State in the Frozen Four, he considered his time at Maine and the sad circumstances under which his heading coaching job began.

Shawn Walsh’s untimely passing just prior to the season six years ago thrust Whitehead into the position he now holds.

There were the many emotions generated by the loyalties and friendships to Walsh who had built a college powerhouse in Orono. There was the genuine disbelief that he had passed and all the trauma that ensued.

There was later the understandable wondering as to what would happen to the program now that Walsh was gone.

“It was a tough time,” said Whitehead on Wednesday. “It took a lot of time to gain the confidence of the fans and of the players who had been at Maine with Shawn.”

“Over time, that acceptance of me came, but it took time,” said Whitehead.

Walsh was such a gregarious, outgoing, and exuberant persona that many wondered if the program could succeed when the new coach was equally as quiet and reserved.

“I had to be who I am,” said Whitehead. “It was a real difference, but maybe it was what was needed at the time. It is who I am, so that is what it had to be.”

In his own quiet way he looked away remembering and said, “It was hard.”

Then came the gentle smile and he said of the Frozen Four that faced him and his team, “After following Shawn under all those circumstances, I told myself that if I can get through this and make it work, there won’t be much else harder that I’ll have to do as a coach.”

He has made it work. He was the right man at the right time. Maine needed calmness after Shawn’s passing; calmness and success. Whitehead brought both.

Then came Thursday.

Prior to the game with Michigan State, he learned that his mother-in-law, Debra Smith, had been killed in an auto accident in Ohio that morning while on her way to watch Maine play.

Prior to the game he told the coaches, but not the players.

University President Robert Kennedy released a statement to the press following the game notifying the public of the loss, offering prayers to the families, and asking that the privacy of the families be respected.

Whitehead did not discuss the subject after the game.

There are places, physical and situational, in everyone’s life that seem to get returned to in critical times. For some, a hometown or house or place of respite occupies a common site for life’s best and worst moments.

For others, a work place or relationship become the center point when the moment demands a constant.

Tim Whitehead has such centers in family and friends, homes and getaways. It also seems he has such a place in the Maine hockey program.

Around his job as head coach have come moments of ecstasy and moments of genuine personal pain.

In both cases, the cementing of the person to the place and of the place to the man grow stronger.

Congratulations on a great season Tim, and our deepest sympathies at your family’s loss.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.