ORONO, Maine — For the first time in a year, a hockey game was played inside the Alfond Arena in Orono Wednesday. Due to the state’s capacity, limits both the men’s and women’s teams played on the road all year.
The Black Bears hosted the Wildcats from New Hampshire in a rivalry game to kick off the 2021 Hockey East Playoffs. The road team scored first and never lost the lead as UNH won 7-2.
Normally, the Alfond is home to thousands of passionate hockey fans but none were inside the building to comply with state guidelines. About 15 students watched the game outside the rink on a TV hooked up to a computer live streaming the action.
Before the game, UMaine Athletic Director Ken Ralph said he was happy to see these student-athletes get an opportunity to compete in the postseason and play a game at home.
“We’re telling the students that every single opportunity you get, you need to value it,” he added.
“Because we don’t know if the numbers start to spike again or the restrictions going to lock us back down so every chance you get to on a field, be in the pool, get on the court, value that and make the most of it,” Ralph said.
You don’t need to tell the student-athletes here about taking advantage of opportunities because they’ve seen many disappear over the last 12 months.
Nearly a year ago to date the UMaine men’s hockey and women’s basketball playoff games were canceled due to concerns associated with COVID-19.
“What this team has been all year long has been resilient, no matter what,” hockey head coach Red Gendron said prior to Wednesday’s game.
Since then, both programs went through off-seasons and pre-seasons filled with uncertainty. Even when practices and games followed, there were plenty of pauses to deal with as both teams missed games due to COVID-related cancellations.
Now in 2021, both Black Bear squads put themselves in positions nearly identical to last year. The men’s hockey team hosted UNH in the first round of the playoffs, last year the team was set to host the University of Connecticut in the league quarterfinal.
The women’s basketball team was ready to take on Stony Brook in the America East championship when that title game was canceled. Both teams made it to the championship game again this year, but now Maine will play host
The tip-off for that contest is 5 p.m. on Friday.
If this wasn’t already a crazy year for sports in Orono, the UMaine football team will play the University of Albany on Saturday at noon. The Black Bears lost to Delaware 37-0 last week and are looking to get their first win of the six-game spring season.