Gene Reilly’s emotions will be divided.

The Harvard University assistant coach will do everything he can to help the Crimson upset the University of Maine in Friday’s 5 p.m. NCAA Tournament East Regional first-round game at Albany’s Pepsi Arena.

But he will always have a special place in his heart for Maine, where he was an assistant coach for three years and served a three-game stint as the interim head coach while Shawn Walsh was undergoing immunotherapy for his kidney cancer in California. He went 1-1-1 as the Bear interim head coach.

Reilly left in August of 2001 to take an assistant coaching position for Grand Rapids in the American Hockey League and he was replaced at UMaine by former UMass-Lowell head coach Tim Whitehead.

Walsh died that September and Whitehead took over as interim head coach before evolving into the permanent head coach.

Reilly is in his first year as an assistant at Harvard. Ironically, he replaced Nate Leaman, who was a volunteer assistant at Maine when Reilly was there. Leaman left to become the head coach at Union College.

“I don’t know if I’m looking forward to Friday’s game,” said Reilly. “I’m looking more forward to seeing Grant [assistant coach Standbrook], Jeanne [hockey secretary Goss] and some of those Maine people I want to reconnect with.”

Reilly said he watched Maine beat UMass 2-1 in triple overtime in the Hockey East championship game Saturday night and was happy for the Bears.

“That was an awesome game. The pace was tremendous. It was fun watching those guys and how they’ve matured. Watching Cam Lyall make that pass [to Mat Deschamps for the shot that led to Ben Murphy’s tip-in] and knowing his struggles to play over four years, seeing Todd Jackson and seeing the smiles on all of their faces. I love their team,” said Reilly.

Defenseman Prestin Ryan and right wing Colin Shields were redshirts who practiced with the 2000-2001 team in Reilly’s last season.

He said he “bleeds Maine blue.

“Shawn [Walsh] gave me a great opportunity; Grant and I have a tremendous relationship and I have some very good friends in Maine,'” said Reilly. “If we lose, there isn’t a better team I’d rather lose to.”

Reilly and Leaman were part of the staff in 1998-99, when Maine won its last NCAA championship.

Reilly was involved in the recruiting process that produced several members of the current junior class. He is also familiar with the four Bears who played in the Eastern Junior Hockey League, where he coached for five years prior to coming to Maine in 1998.

He said he will never forget “all the great memories from the national championship year.

“I think of Rich Britt all the time and how it was such a motivation for us,” said Reilly about the former equipment manager who died in a freak accident that year.

“I think of all the great boosters up there. It’s a special place up there. They love their hockey. I’m sure a lot of them gathered up tapes of our team, Ohio State and Wisconsin and sent them to Timmy [Whitehead],” said Reilly.

Ohio State and Wisconsin will meet in the other first- round game at the East Regional.

The 42-year-old Reilly said his Harvard team “doesn’t have any superstars so we have to play as a team. We’re playing pretty well right now. We try to play decent defense like Maine does. Defense is Maine’s strength. They play great team defense like most Maine teams do.”

Harvard has won seven straight and has allowed only 10 goals in that span.