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ST. PAUL, Minn. – UMaine fans began trickling into the Great Waters Brewing Company in downtown St. Paul hours before the scheduled 3 p.m. pep rally. Just blocks from the XCel Energy Center, a contingent of blue and white piled into the upstairs to support the Black Bears. Optimism was the word of the day.
“Maine all the way. Maine all the way,” University of Maine Director of Athletics Suzanne Tyler said. “I think we’ve got the emotion. They may have the fans, but I think we got another player on the ice. We can’t see him, but we have another player on the ice.”
Jerry Cyr has been following, or better yet, driving UMaine hockey teams for 17 years and he has the hardware to prove it. You may have seen Mr. Cyr around, sporting his two championship rings and befriending anyone who supports the Orono team.
“This is my 17th year,” said Cyr, who has been behind the wheel of the team bus that has advanced to four Frozen Fours. “I started the year after Shawn got here. I don’t think I’ve missed more than five games in 17 years.”
Cyr flashed his ’99 championship ring in the light and said, “I got my ’93 safe at home.”
Cyr also gave a ringing endorsement for interim head coach Tim Whitehead.
“He’s worked his ass off. He deserves it.”
The Screamin’ Black Bear Pep Band played to the delight of the crowd, starting the rally with the Stein Song, bringing the room to its feet. The fans sported jerseys from UMaine players of years past. Names such as Trattnig and Jaaskelainan stood out as members of the championship winning team of 1999.
Tyler said she is proud of the team.
“It was a rough start to the season and they’ve just focused on this game. They’ve had one thing in mind and that’s winning the championship.”
And what does the person who controls the fate of Whitehead at UMaine think of the job he’s done and whether he should be the permanent coach?
“He’s done a wonderful job,” Tyler said.
But she acknowledges the formalities that UMaine has to go through, such as a national search, before Whitehead could be hired.
“It’s legal. We have to,” Tyler said. “But [the season] certainly has positioned him very well. I think if we would have had a search in October, I don’t know if he would have been as well positioned. Some of the alumns might have said, ‘Hey you got to get Herb Brooks, or somebody outrageous; a name.’ But now we have ‘a name’ right here.”
