Center Peter Szabo, who was selected as the top forward for Slovakia in the World Junior Championships last season and signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Maine, hasn’t met school requirements and will instead play for St. Cloud State University (Minn.) this season.

“He was approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse but did not meet our standards on the Toefel exam,” said Maine coach Shawn Walsh, referring to a test given to foreign students to assess their command of the English language. “St. Cloud’s standards aren’t as high [as UMaine’s] on that particular test.”

Walsh said Szabo would not have been eligible for the first semester at Maine but he could have received tutoring and could have kept taking the Toefel exam until he passed and gained his eligibility.

“But he was impatient. He wanted to start playing right away,” said Walsh.

“He was a top recruit. It’s disappointing. But I’ve learned over the years not to overreact,” added Walsh. “It’s ironic. The last time we lost a recruit like this, it was [goalie] Sean Matile to New Hampshire and he was sitting on the bench [after losing his job to Ty Conklin] when we beat New Hampshire for the national title [3-2 in overtime in 1999].”

Walsh said his team is “deep at forward” and said his Bears showed up at dry-land training in “great shape.

“[Senior] Niko Dimitrakos has gone from 18.5 percent body fat to 8.8 percent and [junior] Chris Heisten has gone from 13 to 8,” Walsh said.

The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Szabo played for the Danville Wings of the North American Hockey League last season.

Danville coach and general manager Josh Mervis, a former Maine assistant, called Szabo the “best player we’ve had in my five years here and we’ve had 32 Division I scholarship players.”

Whitehead returns to UMaine

Tim Whitehead is making a homecoming of sorts. The former University of Maine assistant hockey coach was named Friday to fill a similar position with the Black Bears.

Whitehead was an assistant to head coach Shawn Walsh during the 1990-91 season when the Black Bears reached the Hockey East championship and the NCAA Hockey Tournament semifinals. Whitehead said he looking forward to his return to Orono.

“I’m excited to go back to Maine and I’m looking forward to working with Shawn and Grant [Standbrook] again. I love to coach and this is a great coaching opportunity to me.”

Whitehead, 40, has spent the last five years as head coach at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Whitehead led the River Hawks to a 76-95-13 record.

Whitehead is filling the position created by the departure of assistant coach Gene Reilly, who left the Black Bears to become an assistant coach with the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Griffins of the American Hockey League.

Walsh, said Whitehead brings a lot to the Black Bears.

“Tim will help us keep consistency in our program. He knows our system and he knows the league inside-out. He’s a top-notch teacher and coach that will add a lot to the success of our program,” Walsh said.