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July 26, 2004
Maine to Retire Shawn Walsh Shamrock
ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine will officially retire the Shawn
Walsh shamrock on October 9 when the Black Bears host North Dakota. The
shamrock will be included on a banner of all retired hockey numbers that
will be hung from the rafters inside Alfond Arena.

Walsh was head coach of the Black Bears for 17 seasons and guided the team
to eleven trips to the NCAA Tournament. His squads won national
championships in 1993 and 1999, and made a total of seven trips to the
Frozen Four. Walsh earned his 20th career NCAA Tournament victory on March
23, 2001 when Maine defeated Minnesota 5-4 in overtime. His overall record
was 399-215-44 and he posted ten 20-win seasons. Walsh passed away on
September 24, 2001 due to complications from his fight against renal cell
carcinoma.

"We feel it is very important to honor Shawn and his legacy by adding him to
our retired numbers banner," said Maine Director of Athletics Patrick Nero.
"He obviously had an incredible impact not only on our men's hockey program
but our entire University and community. It is important that he have a
permanent place in the Alfond."

Walsh, a native of White Plains, N.Y., graduated from Bowling Green, where
he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education. He was an assistant
coach at Bowling Green before working as an assistant coach for five seasons
at Michigan State. Walsh was named head coach at Maine in 1984 and in his
third season guided the Black Bears to the NCAA Tournament. He was a
four-time Hockey East Coach of the Year and New England Coach of the Year,
and was the Spencer Penrose Trophy recipient in 1995 as National Coach of
the Year. His team's won four Hockey East regular season titles and three
Hockey East Tournament titles.

"It is very gratifying for all of Shawn's family and myself to know that
Shawn's name will be added to the retired numbers banner in the Alfond
Arena," said Lynne Walsh. "By including his name among some of Maine's most
honored and elite~players, Shawn will be remembered as not only a great
leader and coach, but also as the team player that he was in helping to
bring Maine to national prominence in college hockey.~As~Shawn's name, and
eventually other names are added to the banner, it further symbolizes
the~natural~transition in leadership, changes~which should only strengthen
the tradition of excellence he set out to achieve for Maine Hockey."

The University of Maine currently has retired three men's ice hockey
numbers - Scott Pellerin (8), Jim Montgomery (19) and Paul Kariya (9).
Pellerin was Maine's first Hobey Baker Award winner in 1992 and is currently
third on the Maine all-time list in goals (106), fourth in assists (117) and
is second in total points (223). Montgomery was a Hobey Baker finalist in
1993 and was named All-America in 1991 and 1993. He also holds the school
record for games played (170), points (301) and assists (198) in a career.
Kariya became the first freshman ever awarded the Hobey Baker in 1993 and
holds Maine records for most points (100) and most assists (75) in a season.
Kariya and Montgomery were members of the 1993 National Championship team.

For more information on University of Maine Athletics, please visit www.
GoBlackBears.com.