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http://www.pressherald.com/sports/college/hockey/030320umpucks.shtml

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                     Thursday, March 20, 2003

                     COLUMN: Steve Solloway



                       UMaine hockey carries huge wait




                      Copyright  2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.





ORONO - The battle to beat boredom began at home, in his off-campus apartment.

   Tom Reimann, University of Maine hockey player, didn't lose the fight.

   But he can't say that he won, either.

   "You don't want to hear about it," he said.

   Tell us, please.

   "Let's see. Typical day. It's 9 o'clock, time to watch "Regis and Kelly." Except Kelly was out having her baby. At 10, it's time to fix some breakfast. At 11 it was "The Price is Right." Then it was "Hollywood Squares."

   "Time to make a little lunch, watch more TV. Time to take a nap. It was tough. I was going crazy.

   "I'd like to have a job. No, I take that back."

   Did you think about opening a book?

   "No, we're on break. I don't have classes."

   How about reading for the fun of it?

   "I haven't picked up a book to do that in five years. I wasn't going to start now."

   Reimann grinned.

   Let's just say that the sometime defenseman, sometime forward and communications major from Minnesota has a sense of humor.

   He is a senior, a longtime contributing member of the Maine hockey team.

   The Black Bears were bounced from the Hockey East tournament about 10 days ago. That was about the same time the campus was emptying for spring break.

   With the NCAA regional tournament not beginning until March 28, Maine Coach Tim Whitehead suspended practices last week. The time off the ice allowed bruised bodies to heal.

   Bruised pysches, too.

   That Maine wasn't at the FleetCenter in Boston for the final two rounds of the Hockey East tournament was a shock to everyone's system.

   Because Maine played so well over the first half of the season and has a 24-9-5 record, it will get a bid  to the NCAA tournament. The Black Bears just have to survive three weeks between games.

   How many more days until the next game?

   "I don't know," said Reimann.

   Not counting down the days? You don't have a date circled on the calendar?

   "No. The selection day is Sunday, that's the only day I care about. Then we find out where we go and who we play."

   In the spirit of full disclosure, I had asked for one of the Maine players who might be more affected by the long layoff. Someone who can't stand sitting still.

   The fingers pointed to Reimann.

   He sat on a bench outside the Maine locker room at Alfond Arena. The team got together Sunday for a captains' practice. Whitehead's practices began Monday and Wednesday's session was particularly spirited.

   "Your timing needs to come back," said Reimann.

   "Your lungs, too. The guys are playing hard."

   The back-to-back losses to Massachusetts at Alfond were a slap in the face.

   Maine hockey traditionally does not lose so early in the postseason.

   "Those games are in the past. We're four games away from the national championship. That's how we're looking at it."

   Yet the first of those four games is still nearly another 10 days away.

   "It feels like the preseason again. You practice and you practice. But it's just like the football teams that go to bowl games. It's weeks between the end of their season and that last game. We can do it."

   In another part of the world there are thousands of guys his age, waiting in a desert and practicing for something far more dangerous, far more important than a national championship. They're waiting to go to war.

   Reimann understands the perspective. He has a friend from back home with the military in Kuwait. Something to do with prisoner-of-war camps.

   Iraq has been discussed in the locker room. "Not a lot," said Reimann. "But we have."

   On the arena floor, the basketball court was being assembled for tonight's WNIT game. The Maine women play Creighton. Maine's hockey players have another free day.

   Reimann doesn't know what he'll do. More TV, probably. He's a confessed television junkie, but not, surprisingly, a video-game addict.

   "Some of the guys can play for seven, eight hours. Not me. My hands have been slashed and hacked so much, I can't work the controls. My thumbs are all shot."

   But not his sense of humor.

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

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