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BOSTON – Viewers of this weekend’s Frozen Four tournament were probably asking, “Hey, where’s the Naked Five?” What fans might not have realized – the Naked Five got dressed Thursday night.
Because of a FleetCenter policy, the Naked Five were not allowed to cheer on the University of Maine hockey team with the usual M-A-I-N-E painted on their bare chests.
The Naked Five were provided the tickets through the NCAA as though they were the UMaine hockey cheerleaders, the Naked Five said. The five men learned that they would be making the trip to the Frozen Four on April 2.
The Naked Five instead wore T-shirts that displayed their usual letters for Thursday’s game. The Naked Five said they got flags with their letters to wave to help make up for their covered chests. The Naked Five said during Thursday’s game that they alerted the usher, that when UMaine scored they planned to lift or take off their shirts during Thursday’s game.
The FleetCenter’s design was not conducive to the Naked Five’s traditional run around the Alfond Arena following an UMaine goal, but it might have been an option if Maine’s team had won a national championship, the men said.
“Our name is the Naked Five. [The T-shirt rule] takes away from the tradition,” said Mike, “the M,” Benson.
“We are the fully-clothed five,” said Alex,”the A,” Arroyo.
During Saturday’s national championship game, the Naked Five returned to shirtless action. The Naked Five ditched their shirts and showed off their painted chests.
Benson said Shaun Russell, UMaine’s director of athletic marketing, worked out an agreement with the FleetCenter so the Naked Five could return to their painted routine. Benson said that at one point they were told to put their shirts back on, but they had Russell’s cell phone number to troubleshoot the situation.
The core group of this season’s Naked Five made the trip to Boston. They said they had a group of “JV subs” that would substitute for them throughout the season.
The Naked Five included M: Benson, a senior business administration major; A: Arroyo, a graduate student in business administration; I: Rustin Lovelle, a senior microbiology major; N: Adam Greenlaw, a senior civil engineering major; and E: Nick Pare, a third-year mechanical engineering technology major. Traveling with the Naked Five as their assistant and mascot was Kyle Mitchell, a senior new media major.
The Naked Five is composed of members of Sigma Epsilon Phi fraternity. The only member that is not a Sig Ep is the N, Greenlaw.
Bangor Daily News