Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
What a day – the New England Patriots pulled the trigger on a deal to bring Randy Moss to Boston and at the same time I’m trying to pull all the thoughts of the last three years together for this column.
You see, this is my swan song. Some people – I’m looking at you, Bananas fans – will be thrilled to know that I’m graduating and won’t be sports czar here at The Maine Campus next year. Hopefully, there’s at least one dear reader out there who will miss seeing this byline, though I’m not holding my breath.
As a sports reporter at UMaine, I’ve experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows imaginable. First and foremost, I’m a Black Bears fan, and I hope that showed in these pages. I tried to convey the emotion of it from the fans’ perspective. If you think that I’m not impartial or fair and balanced because of it, just Google “I still root” plus “Bob Ryan” and hopefully you’ll catch my drift.
All this would have been impossible without a lot of people that deserve formal thanks in print. At the Campus, I want to thank every person who ever wrote a story for me in these pages – without a great staff, this section would not have been what it is.
I would be remiss not to take a few inches to thank Matthew Conyers personally. As an editor he gave me the chance to apply my vision to the sports page. More importantly, he has been a first rate reporter, confidant, sounding board, foil and friend.
There are a lot of people in the UMaine athletic department who deserve thanks as well. I must thank volleyball coach Lynn Atherley, the first coach I interviewed at UMaine. Her candid responses and respect when I was a nervous cub reporter gave me the confidence to be the writer I’ve become since.
To coaches Ted Woodward and Jack Cosgrove I am especially grateful. Their players were always honest, open and gentlemenly; that is as much a reflection on the student athletes as it is on those coaches and the programs they run.
But enough of the sentimental stuff. I mentioned earlier that I’ve had some great highs and awful lows as a reporter and fan here at UMaine. I’ve been a jinx of sorts, because the games I’ve traveled to outside of Orono haven’t always resulted in wins. In fact, the Black Bears are 10-16-1 in those games, including 3-6 in playoff games. Still, there have been some big wins. The following is a list of my top three best – and worst -moments of the last three years.
The Best: No. 1 – UMaine 2, Massachusetts 1, 2004 Hockey East championship: What can you say besides Jimmy Howard played like Jesus in a goalie mask. This triple-overtime affair from my freshman year started my career with unbelievable expectations and has never been topped. In fact, it might never be topped by any sporting event in my life since my friends and I got on the Fleetcenter jumbotron going bonkers after Ben Murphy’s game-winner. Words don’t do this game justice.
No. 2 – UMaine 9, Mississippi State 7: I have to put a football game here, and this is the biggest win in program history, nevermind the last four years. I was at a trading card convention in Boston the night this game was played and I distinctly remember checking the score on my cell phone. At the end of the first half, I was thinking being down 7-0 wasn’t so bad. Next thing I knew it was the fourth quarter and the Black Bears had pulled ahead, and finished the miracle victory. The rest of that season was pretty disappointing by comparison, but nevertheless, this monumental win endures.
No. 3 – UMaine 3, Massachusetts 1, 2007 NCAA East Regional Championship: It was hard to choose between this game and the 2006 regional final against Michigan State. It was also hard to pick another hockey game, but frankly, no other sport ever really delivered in a big game. This game was a stick-it, in-your-face emotional affair after the Minutemen broomed the Black Bears two weeks prior. If they’d lost, this game might’ve been No. 1 on the worst losses list because I couldn’t stomach UMass stealing UMaine’s Frozen Four berth.
Honorable mention: Men’s hockey sweeps over Denver and North Dakota, Frozen Four win over Boston College; Football’s overtime win over Rhode Island in 2005 and win over Towson in 2006; men’s basketball’s win over Vermont in 2007.
The worst: No. 1 – UMass 10, UMaine 9, Nov. 2006: UMaine missed an extra point that would’ve tied the game not once, but twice because of a penalty. What’s worse is that it killed a legit shot at the Atlantic 10 title and a playoff spot. The look on Ron Whitcomb’s face in the press conference had my stomach in knots for three days. This is the ultimate, “you have to be kidding me” stomach-punch loss of my career.
No. 2 – Minnesota 1, UMaine 0, 2005 NCAA West Regional Semifinal: Howard made about 500 saves in his last two college games and still lost. I know the Gophers were a vastly superior team, but it never hit me because the Black Bears had Jimmy and who could score on him? Darn near no one, but you can’t win a playoff game 0-0.
No. 3 – UMBC 70, UMaine 61, 2007 America East tournament: A tough loss for the men’s hoops team squeaks in at the third spot. The Retrievers scored the last 10 points of the game in the final minutes as the Black Bears pried defeat from the jaws of victory. It ended the Kevin Reed era in disappointing fashion and closed out a season full of promise at least one game earlier than it should have. Just a bitter pill to swallow in the big picture of the 2006-07 basketball season.
Dishonorable mention: Hockey: Denver 1, UMaine 0, 2004 National Championship; Boston College 2, UMaine 1, 2005 Hockey East semifinal; any loss to UMass. Football: UMass 35, UMaine 34, 2004; UNH 19, UMaine 13, 2006.
