Walsh takes a step forward with look back
By Steve Solloway
Staff Writer
Copyright ) 1999 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
It wasn't exactly a kiss-and-make-up night, but it was close enough.
 
Shawn Walsh brought his University of Maine hockey team south to the
state's big city Wednesday night for the first time since the Troubles
of 1996.
 
No one screamed for his head when he was introduced before the game
with Yale at the Cumberland County Civic Center. No one even booed.
 
He was the man who provoked an NCAA investigation. He was the man
responsible for the penalties. Worse, he was the man who tarnished the
national championship that was won in that wondrous season of 1993.
 
Maine suspended him for a year and then stood by him. And the farther
away you got from Orono, the louder the clamor for his firing.
 
''I personally took a lot of hits from the media in this city,'' said
Walsh after the crowd cheered his team off the ice.
 
''I deserved it. I made some errors. I did some wrong things. And I
hate to bring up something negative when everything about this trip has
been so positive.''
 
It's been three years since his banishment and two since he returned
and in many ways, what happened in 1996 is old history. But to help his
hockey team move on, Walsh knew he had to face his past in the city of
his harshest critics.
 
Until Wednesday, many people in southern Maine didn't know a Matthias
Trattnig from a Magnus Lundback or Marcus Gustafsson. Maine is ranked
second in the country but until Wednesday, people were holding this
team at arm's length.
 
''I think they were,'' said Walsh. ''That's why it was so important to
come back. People need to know that our program is back and that we've
got some great kids.''
 
A lot of parents and their kids showed up for a hockey clinic Tuesday
afternoon run by the Maine players at the Civic Center. Maybe there
were 200 people on the ice. Maybe more.
 
Afterward a line snaked through the lobby as the kids waited to get
autographs from their favorite Black Bears.
 
Wednesday night the big crowd cheered the player introductions,
although not madly. The loudest cheers were reserved for Steve Kariya.
Of course.
 
Silence greeted Walsh's intro.
 
Maine spotted Yale a quick goal, tied the score, and won over the
crowd. Hey, this is a city that has been dying to watch good hockey.
Fun hockey without the promotions or choreography.
 
Maybe it was Maine's band that got the crowd going. Maybe it was the
five, barechested M-A-I-N-E guys who ran from one end of the arena to
the other.
 
Maybe it was the novelty.
 
More likely it was the wide-open hockey played by college kids who
didn't have to look over their shoulders for the goons or the thugs.
The meat-eaters will disagree, but fights add nothing to a hockey game.
 
But let's not kick the Portland Pirates when they're down. The college
game and the pro game is comparing an apple to a lemon.
 
Walsh can keep his players for four years while poor Mark Kumpel of the
Pirates is lucky if he can keep his crew together for one week.
 
But give Walsh credit. You may not want him for a child's godfather,
but he served his time and that was enough.
 
He's back, his team's back and suddenly people are talking of a trip to
Anaheim and college hockey's Final Four.
 
Whoa, said Walsh, smiling. There are too many more games to play, too
many good teams to beat. But he thinks his team can do it.
 
It's time to let him prove that what happened in the past will remain
in the past.