Aa a coach and fan of high school sports in Maine, I was happy to
read the column Deron posted from the BDN concerning Jeff
Libby.  Jeff was a year behind me in high school (he at
Waterville and me at North Yarmouth Academy), and although
he was overshadowed by Barry Clukey, I always considered him
to be more important to his team than the over-rated goal scorer.
I know when we played Waterville he always did more damage than
Barry, if not with goals, with his brutal defensive pressure which
forced our forwards to give up the puck...which usually led
to Barry's goals...   Six years after I got strange looks from
people when I said Jeff was better than Barry, it is nice
to finally be proven correct.  :->
 
Concerning the article, however, some commentary is due:
If a player from Maine is planning to follow Libby and Weinrich
into the NHL, they're going to have to play Prep just to have
a shot at college.  It pains me to say it, but the level of
competition in Maine high school hockey just isn't going to
attract any attention.  Jeff had to prep at New Hampton, despite
being the best defenseman in the state in his junior AND senior
seasons.  The Weinrich brothers (Maine and Merrimack), Eric Fenton
and Mike McHugh (Maine) and Chris Ladner (Colgate) all prepped at
NYA.  Travis Roy, Matt McKerrow and Doug Friedman all prepped in
Massachusetts.  Even Clukey prepped a semester at Gov. Dummer.
This season I saw four Maine seniors who might be capable of
playing D-I hockey.  None will be on a roster next season.
However, all of them are going to prep schools for a PG year
so they might have a shot next season.
 
I hope you are all sitting down, because I am about to write
something positive about the UM hockey program.  I know its
been a long time since someone has written something positive
about the program, and I wouldn't want you all to faint.
 
The real, lasting legacy from our 1993 team is that we sparked
Maine kids' interest in hockey.  Since 1993, youth leagues
have had to turn away kids because they no longer have the
resources to handle the number of applicants.
This has led to new arenas being built - Portland and Freeport
should have new facilities by 1999 and more are planned.
As much as I enjoy having many of the best players enroll at
NYA, and as much as I enjoyed winning the championship this
season, I do look forward to the day when a Cheverus, Cony
or some other team finally breaks through and wins a title.
Having the same four teams in the state semi-finals for
14 of the last 17 years really doesn't help high school
hockey grow.  And it leads to the impression that there
is no talent among our ranks.  When Weinrich and McHugh
made it to the NHL, it should have ended that assumption;
but what happened to Jeff, to Travis and to this year's
crop of seniors shows that the belief lives on.
 
Congratulations to Jeff Libby, condolences to Jeff, Eric, Matt
and Tim for not having the chance to follow him.
 
John Forsyth  UM Hockey 1991-93
-- Assistant Coach: North Yarmouth Academy Hockey/Baseball --
   -- http://maine.maine.edu/~johnfors/nyahock.html  --