The University of Maine has filed a lawsuit for a restraining
order against Hockey East in Bangor Superior Court Monday. The
Court is expected to rule on the suit within 48 hours.
 
Friday, Hockey East athletic directors voted 5-2-1 to bar the
UMaine Black Bears hockey team from playing the league's post
season tournament. The move came after senior Patrice Tardif,
a graduate student, was found to be ineligible by UMaine NCAA
compliance officer Linwood Carville. Tardif had been mistakenly
told by Carville earlier in the season that graduate students
need only six credit hours a semester when, in fact, the NCAA
requires graduate student athletes to take at least eight
credit hours.
 
Tardif was reinstated by the NCAA last week after he re-enrolled
in a course he dropped in late January.The NCAA also had Maine
forfeit 21 games Tardif played in while ineligible.
 
Schools that voted in favor of barring Maine from the league
playoffs were: Boston University, Northeastern University,
Merrimack College, Boston College and University of New Hampshire.
Maine and Providence College dissented, with UMass-Lowell
abstaining.
 
According to HE rules, all teams in the league are eligible for
the playoffs.
 
Ryan Robbins
Stodder Hall
University of Maine
 
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