It is a little past midnight on a Friday. It is a time when a lot of college students are perfecting their socialization skills in their dormitories, fraternities, or sororities.

But for Judd Sher, Shannon Coiley, and Debi Feldman, there is still work to do.

They are the University of Maine hockey team’s statisticians.

Although the Friday night hockey game has been over for two hours, the trio puts together a comprehensive package of statistics that break down virtually every aspect of the game.

Every Maine player’s performance, everything from hits to shift times to scoring chances, has been recorded by the statisticians.

Their stat-keeping is not only confined to games. They also keep stats during practices.

They don’t get paid and don’t receive any academic credits for their time-consuming labors.

But they don’t mind.

“I played hockey in high school and I wanted to stay involved in the sport,” said Sher, a Cape Elizabeth High School graduate. “This is just like being part of the team.”

“I just like hockey,” said Coiley, an Old Town native.

“I want to get a job with a National Hockey League team some day,” said Feldman, who hails from Newton, Mass.

Maine Coach Shawn Walsh has a deep appreciation for them.

“They spend countless hours working for the program for no gratification other than being part of the program,” said Walsh. “We’re a better program because of them. Their statistics tell us who is playing well, and they zero in on the finer parts of the game. They make our players accountable for their practices as well as their games.”

The statisticians or an assistant coach sitting with them have a headset and, in key parts of the game, Walsh might call up and ask which of his centers is having the most success on faceoffs. They will tell him and Walsh will have that center take the next faceoff.

The statisticians admitted that there has been more work involved than they had anticipated, but they don’t mind.

“It helps you grow as a person,” said Coiley, a health-fitness major. “You get to meet so many people.”

“You don’t have to go to the ticket office at 5 in the morning to get tickets. You get to get into the games free,” chuckled Sher, a business-finance major with a minor in computer science.

“You don’t get much in return except the experience, but you hope the experience will pay off,” said Feldman, a business management major.

That may be the case, but the statisticians usually have only one eye on the game and the other on the stat sheet they are busily filling in.

“Not all programs are fortunate enough to have good statisticans like we do,” said Maine junior left winger Jean-Yves Roy. “We consider them part of the team, and if we win the whole thing, they’re just as responsible as we are.”

Theirs is a hectic life, juggling their schoolwork with their hockey responsibilities.

The statisticians aren’t the only student members of the support staff.

Graduate student Tim Ziobro is an administrative aide who helps arrange the road trips, Brian Keery is the equipment manager who is responsible for everything from laundry to sharpening skates, Rich Buzzell is an assistant trainer under trainer Dick Young, John Hurd and Jody Diou assist Kerry, and Julie Savage does the videotaping of home games.

“You learn a lot dealing with 40 people,” said Keery.