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This story can be found online at:
http://www.portland.com/sports/college/hockey/020325soll.shtml

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                     Monday, March 25, 2002

                     COLUMN: Steve Solloway



                        It's much more than a victory




                      Copyright  2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.









WORCESTER, Mass. - Suddenly, the hockey game was over. Suddenly, it was time for all of Maine's players to join their teammates on the ice and celebrate.

That's when Peter Metcalf heard his name and found Shawn Walsh's game sweater in his hands. Metcalf knew what he had to do.

He skated around the Centrum ice, holding the sweater aloft. He yelled. In his heart, he cried.

In the grandstand, people cheered. Not all of them wore Maine blue. Walsh's battle with cancer cut across school loyalties.

"It wasn't planned," said Metcalf. "Coach just gave it to me. No one had talked about it. I knew it was the right thing to do."

He is Maine's captain, one of only four seniors on the team. He is the defenseman who stepped up to be a leader and never forgot his role.

Or the man who so shaped his college career.

What were you thinking, Peter, while you carried Walsh's sweater around the ice?

The blue-and-white game jersey has hung behind the Maine bench for every game. Seen, but not talked about. Never before had someone taken it for a celebratory trip around the ice.

Sunday, Coach Tim Whitehead looked at Campbell Blair, one of his assistant coaches. Both had the same thought. This was the tournament game Walsh so desperately wanted to win last spring, but lost.

They called to Metcalf.

Later, standing in a corridor, halfway between the team's locker room and the team bus, Metcalf paused. Up to this point he had talked about the big plays in Maine's 4-3 win over Boston University in Sunday's NCAA East Regional.

He talked about making his third trip to what the NCAA calls its Frozen Four championship series. About how blessed he was, when so many other college players hadn't made it to one.

"What I was thinking when I held the sweater? Oh . . . I don't know."

Metcalf paused. He looked up at the ceiling. His eyes were filling. He took deeper breaths.

"I was yelling. We finally did it, coach. You'd be proud of us. We're going to take it all the way."

Another deep breath and Metcalf relaxed.

"I know that he just lit up a big cigar," said Metcalf, recalling one of Walsh's vices. "He's puffing on it right now, just like he did when we went to Providence."

That was two years ago after Maine beat Michigan in the regional. The Black Bears lost to North Dakota State in the semifinals that year.

As Metcalf talked, one hand twisted the heavy championship ring on the other. He was a freshman when Maine beat New Hampshire to win the national title in Anaheim. Got an assist in that game on a Niko Dimitrakos goal.

"I don't wear it a lot," said Metcalf, looking down at the ring. Dimitrakos, the senior forward, has one, too.

"I like to show the freshmen," said Metcalf. "We tell them how everybody counted us out that year, just like this year.

"We tell them stories of what it felt like to win the national championship. This team is really starting to get excited about that.

"I know when we get back home there's going to be a buzz all over campus."

Maine is two victories away from a third national title,  but no one has used the destiny word. Not yet, anyway. The media has been unusually sensitive, tiptoeing around the whole subject of Walsh's passing.

In fact, someone asked Whitehead and several Maine players if the media had been fixating on the former coach. Should we leave Walsh rest?

"No," said Metcalf, shaking his head. "No. This is his team. You can't say enough about what he did.

"(Coach Tim Whitehead) has done a great job. We didn't buy into his system at first. But Coach Walsh picked him. (Whitehead is) a great coach. He's got my vote."

Yet Sunday, like on many other game days, Metcalf felt Walsh's presence.

"If I'm slow getting back to cover someone, I hear him yelling in the back of my head. He's always there."

Sunday, Metcalf yelled back. We did it, coach.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

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