ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It was easy to pick out the University of Maine hockey jerseys at Yost Arena Saturday as the partisan Michigan Wolverines crowd created a sea of yellow, navy blue and white in which isolated, blue-and-white islands appeared here and there.

So it wasn’t as difficult as it should be to pick out UMaine President Peter Hoff in a crowd, especially when he’s right in front of you, wearing a dark blue Maine away jersey bearing the name “Hoff” in white on the back and the number “17” on the sleeves and back panel.

“I’m seeing a number of Maine jerseys around the crowd and I think it’ll be a lot like St. Paul last year, where they’re going to outnumber us,” said Hoff, who arrived in Ann Arbor Friday night. “At least we can agree on one thing. We’re all screaming ‘Let’s go blue, let’s go blue.’ Everybody in the stands agrees.”

There’s a story or two behind the “17” on Hoff’s Maine jersey.

“I was at the 1999 NCAA playoffs in Worcester and someone told me they didn’t even know I was there, so I decided to raise my profile,” Hoff recalled. “I got a jersey and put 17 on it because I’m the 17th president.

“They [Maine’s hockey team] were headed off to Anaheim and I went down to Alfond Arena and singled out Bobby Stewart since he was wearing 17 at the time and I said ‘Bobby, you’re wearing my number now, so you need to do something special,'” Hoff said. “Then they went to the semifinal and played BC and Bobby scored the overtime goal that put us in the final.”

Hoff took the kharma of the number 17 a step further by creating a president’s number award, presented annually to the Maine player Hoff thinks “should” be wearing the president’s number.

“Usually it’s for something academic or something out of the ordinary, or both,” Hoff explained. “Ben Guite was a native French-speaking person who majored in English, so I gave it to him. Another year, I gave it to Brendan Walsh because he was the best trash talker in the league.

“Last year, I gave it jointly to the goalies because one of them was named after my favorite poet [Matt Yeats] and the other one [Matt Morrison] gave the best speech at Shawn Walsh’s memorial service. I think I’ve got my eye on the winner this year, but I’m still waiting to see who I’ll pick.”

Hoff was finishing off a cookie as he waited to climb the stairs to his seats in section seven, row nine. He was sitting with Patrick Nero, the former University of Miami assistant athletic director who Hoff recently hired to become Maine’s athletic director.

“We’re delighted with Patrick. I think he’s going to bring a lot to the university,” Hoff said.

It was Nero’s first chance to catch a UMaine hockey game since becoming a college administrator. When he was a student at Providence College, he caught plenty of games at Snively Arena in Providence and Alfond Arena.

“I went to a couple of NCAA playoff hockey games before they had the Frozen Four,” said Nero. “My dad worked at Providence for 20 years, so I grew up a hockey fan because that was our premium sport for a long time. Chris Terreri was in school when I was there. Then a guy named Rick Pitino came there and turned us into a basketball school.”

Nero’s trip to Ann Arbor was for both business and pleasure.

“Going to the America East [women’s] tournament and coming here gives me an opportunity to not only meet the staff, but also the fans who travel, the fans, and the student-athletes,” Nero said.

Despite his college hockey roots, Nero felt a bit out of his element after seven years at Miami..

“Uhhhh … I’m rusty,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been seven years, but it’s starting to come back. I am a very big Maine hockey fan right now though. I understand that.”

Nero still has some responsibilities to take care of at Miami before coming on board at Maine full-time. He will spend the next two weeks at Miami tying up any loose ends before returning to Maine for a couple of days. Then he’s off to the Hockey East meetings before taking over his new job in earnest on April 24.

Hoff and Nero have plenty of challenges to take on.

“Oh boy… We’re in the middle of the budget process,” Hoff said. “The state legislature just passed its budget and now we’re working with the board of trustees and the chancellor to determine exactly what we’re going to have to do on campus. It’s going to be a big challenge.”

“It’s happening all over the country. Everybody is having to make sacrifices and stretch dollars,” he added. “Even in a good year at Maine, we’re looking maybe at a two percent increase and this is not a good year. It’s not as bad as the dark days of the nineties, but we’re going to have to be creative.”

Nero’s immediate priorities are a bit different.

“I need to spend the next six months getting to meet as many people as I can, both on campus and off,” he said. “My first real challenge and goal is to start building support for our fall sports, especially doing everything we can to start throwing up that football stadium. That has got to be critical early on. We need the folks throughout the state to really support that team. They’ve made us proud the last three years.”