From today's Bangor Daily News - http://www.bangornews.com

Walsh holding up well; Coach continues cancer treatment
By Larry Mahoney, Of the NEWS Staff

Shawn Walsh, the University of Maine men's hockey coach who was diagnosed
with kidney cancer in June, is finishing up the first of his two scheduled
20-day immunotherapy treatments at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
at UCLA and will return to Maine on Monday, according to Black Bears
assistant coach Gene Reilly.

The sessions for Walsh, who has renal cell carcinoma, consist of five days
of intravenous medication, given every eight hours; a 10-day recovery
period; and another five days of intravenous medication. The medication is
designed to stimulate his immune system to a higher level so the healthy
cells will attack and destroy the remaining cancerous tumors under his
breast plate.

Reilly, who will be the interim head coach when Walsh is undergoing his
second round of treatment in October, has been keeping in touch with Walsh
via e-mail. He said Walsh played golf with actor Kurt Russell and former
UMaine Hobey Baker Award winner Paul Kariya, an NHL All-Star for the Mighty
Ducks of Anaheim, during the first 10-day recovery period.

^^His spirits are good and, obviously, if he is well enough to play golf
after the first [five-day] treatment, things are going well. That shows he
is healthy enough to go through the treatment,'' said Reilly, who is in his
third season as an assistant at Maine.

Reilly said Walsh has always included jokes in his e-mails to further
indicate that he is holding up well.

He said Walsh is a few days behind schedule, but he expects the 17th-year
coach to be on hand when the team holds its first meeting on Sept. 5.

Reilly and 12th-year assistant Grant Standbrook will coach the team in Walsh
's absence.

^^I don't like the circumstances under which this has happened,'' said the
38-year-old Reilly, referring to Walsh's cancer. ^^I've been a head coach
and Grant has been a head coach. That's in our favor. We know how things are
run around here. All we want to do is keep the ship on course for when Shawn
comes back.''