Here is the story William was referring to....
 
- Kevin
 
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  Kevin C. Tompkins                     Comverse Network Systems
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An international hit
 
Diversified roster puts Maine back near the top
 
By Joe Concannon, Globe Staff, 12/17/98
 
ORONO, Maine - Jason Vitorino sat in the stands in Alfond Arena Monday
afternoon, wearing a cap that identified his affiliation with Cafe Brazil in the Allston
section of Boston.
 
His father, Valter, an emigre from Minas Gerais, Brazil, started out in this country as a
dishwasher in a restaurant in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and has owned Cafe Brazil for a dozen
years. Jason also has come a long way, rising to the top with the University of Maine
hockey team, which is ranked No. 4 in the nation.
 
Vitorino may be the only player in college hockey to hold a Brazilian passport, but he was
born in the United States and lives in Brookline, Mass. He played soccer with considerable
success at St. Sebastian, but his mother, Theresa, introduced him and older brother Glenn,
now a Brookline firefighter, to the ice at an early age.
 
"People don't realize I'm Brazilian because I don't have the characteristics," said
Vitorino." The guys kid me that if Brazil had a team in the Olympics, I'd be there.
Everyone jokes about it."
 
Perhaps not all the tales are as exotic as Vitorino's, but the Black Bears (10-1-2) are a
true melting pot, with players from Sweden, Finland, Austria, and Canada, as well as
several from Massachusetts.
 
And they're resilient. Their chemistry in the wake of penalties imposed by the NCAA that
forced a cutback in scholarships has been a tribute to positive thinking.
 
After winning the NCAA championship in 1993, Maine encountered adversity in the form of
NCAA sanctions for a variety of infractions. As a result, coach Shawn Walsh served a
one-year suspension beginning in December 1996 and the Black Bears were banned from
the NCAA tournament in 1996 and '97.
 
Now Walsh is content that the house is in order, and there may be a return to the NCAAs
in his future. He kept in touch with the game in his absence and has revitalized the
program.
 
"It was a long process that really got dragged out," he said. "We were in limbo for a long
time. It was humbling. It's a difficult thing to go through, and I wouldn't wish it on
anybody.  But we persevered.
 
"The players continued to play hard, and I think we stayed positive. It showed in our
Hockey East championship game appearance in 1996 and 1998. Every year we've been
eligible, we've reached the Hockey East championship game."
"The best thing I think we did is we didn't get caught up in whether it was fair or not. We
tried to say, OK, what can we do? What's the most productive thing? How can we make a
positive out of this?' I'm thrilled we've been able to recover as quickly and efficiently as
we have with less scholarships than anybody else. It's a credit to our kids. You look at pro
sports, and the teams with the best resources don't always win."
 
"We focused a little on Europe. We changed our recruiting areas slightly. Hockey is one
sport where you can recover. It's a buyer's market. There are more players out there who
are available for scholarships than there are scholarships to go around. If you don't panic
and give away money too easy and be patient, you're going to be able to find some quality
players."
 
Among Walsh's current crop is dynamic Steve Kariya, who could very well join brother
Paul as a Hobey Baker Award winner and lead the team to the NCAA Final Four in
Anaheim, where Paul stars for the Mighty Ducks. But more than the Kariya lineage
illustrates that Walsh is trying to keep things business as usual.
 
"The biggest thing I've tried to do," he said, "is to be consistent and run the coaching end
of the program the same way I did it when I got here 15 years ago. That's to make the
players accountable. That's the key. I'm a believer in making the players accountable to
each other."
 
"This is a fun team. We've got the potential ingredients to be a successful club. You start
with five seniors who are all quality guys who will graduate, and they haven't been to the
NCAA tournament. You add to it a freshman class that is deep. When you've got those
two ingredients, it's a good recipe for success."
 
Walsh, who worked for an energy company in his year away from coaching, has ridden the
tide of change and come out on top. "I think more than anything," he said, "I want to see
these guys enjoy the fun of an NCAA tournament run."
 
"We're going to have to stay healthy. The most difficult part of getting to Anaheim might
be getting out of this league. I think you can make a case that three of the best teams in the
country might be in this league."
 
Walsh has emerged from exile with a sense of perspective.
"I think people thought I was going to get fired by the NCAA," he said. "They were going
to come down and eliminate me. When you go through an 18-month investigation, you have
to have a sense if you're going to come out on top. I'll never forget the 11 hours I spent in
the hearing in Kansas City."
 
"It was clear they understood the lack of institutional control. I made mistakes. I should
have been more detailed. I assumed I understood the rules. I was asked to throw out the
first pitch at Fenway Park in July of 1993. The athletic department invited all the players
who were in New England at the time to join me on the pitcher's mound and got 15 tickets
for them."
 
"The NCAA told me it was a violation because not every student at Maine got a free
ticket to a Red Sox game. I felt our players deserved the opportunity. The thing that helped
my situation was each player had an individual interview and I told our guys to tell them
everything, to volunteer information."
 
"I wanted to bare our souls. I didn't want anything hidden, and that really helped us. The
fact we had to sit out the 1997 playoffs was disappointing. We persevered. It's behind us,
and we're a lot better for it. What has happened to this group of seniors has made them a
lot stronger and helped them grow as people."
 
Dave Cullen, whose uncle John is the career scoring leader at Boston University, is one of
the seniors who survived the troubles. "I think not knowing what was going on with the
program was the hardest thing," he said.
 
Vitorino is more blunt: "I think the hardest part was they took two years away from us."
 
This could be their season, the best time of their lives.
 
"I think personalitywise, we've got a good mix," said Cullen.
 
"We have five seniors who are all leaders in their own distinct ways," said Vitorino, "and
we have a lot of middle men who add a lot of chemistry. We have a lot of recruits, and
everyone's adding their piece to the puzzle."
 
This story ran on page D01 of the Boston Globe on 12/17/98.
) Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
 
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