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Another year, another youthful University of Maine men’s hockey squad. Of 27 players on the current Black Bear roster, 11 are freshmen – more than one-third of the team. Coaching such a young group to win will be no small task, but Head Coach Tim Whitehead says Bob Corkum is up for it.
Whitehead re-introduced the former Black Bear as an associate head coach on Aug. 22.
“To me, it was a slam-dunk decision because of what Bob can bring to the table and how he can help our team,” Whitehead said. “You’ve got a guy that really enjoys working with student athletes on and off the ice, and we have a very young and inexperienced team, so it’s a great match.”
Both Whitehead and Corkum said that for this team to be successful, they need lots of one-on-one influence, which is exactly what Corkum thrives on.
“Tim, [Associate Head Coach] Dan [Kerluke] and myself all know that we have an extremely young team, so I don’t think expectations should be out of this world,” Corkum said. “At the same time, I like playing the Cinderella story a little bit . I think that the thing this team needs to do this year is create an identity for itself right from the get-go, and I’d like to see that identity be that we’re going to be the hardest-working team in Hockey East.”
Corkum’s primary role early on with the team will be working with the players directly on the ice. Later on, he will assist with recruitment. He said he hopes to mold them into “hard-nosed, high-percentage, blue-collar players.”
That’s the type of hockey Corkum embodied throughout his hockey career, which has come full-circle with his return to Black Bear hockey after nearly two decades. Corkum played with UMaine from 1985-1989 and helped the team to the NCAA Tournament in each of his last three years.
Corkum went on to have a 12-year National Hockey League career. He did a lot of moving around in that time, playing for seven teams in all – the Buffalo Sabres, Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He tallied 200 career points.
His fondest memory of the NHL came in 2001 when he played for the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals. He scored a short-handed goal against Patrick Roy to hault a record-breaking scoreless streak in the finals. “Unfortunately, it didn’t end that well,” Corkum said. “We lost game seven, and Ray Bourque got his cup that year, but that’s probably my best hockey memory.”
Corkum wasn’t about to be finished with hockey yet. “I’m enthusiastic. I love this game; I think it’s the greatest game on earth,” he said.
He went on to coach at the high school level from 2003-2005. Since then, he has coached the Portland Junior Pirates and the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, the Tier III Junior A National Champions in 2007 and 2008 and Eastern Junior Hockey League Season and Playoff Champions in 2007.
During all this time, Corkum stayed close to his roots at UMaine. He kept in contact with Shawn Walsh and at one point, came up to help UMaine players with faceoffs and other on-ice drills. He would also go see the team play if they had a game close to his home at the time. Throughout his years of hockey, Corkum said he always thought back to his four years at UMaine.
When coaching positions opened up at the end of last season with the departures of Guy Perron and Grant Standbrook, Whitehead said Corkum was one of the first names he thought of.
“When Tim asked me if I wanted this position, I didn’t hesitate,” Corkum said. “It’s been very exciting to be back and to be part of a great tradition and storied team.”
The idea of coming back to Maine always appealed to Corkum, he said. He hasn’t been disappointed by his decision to return.
“When you come back here after 20 years and you see the same people here supporting the program as when you left, that says a lot about the program,” he said. “I hear all the time that people ‘bleed blue’ but it’s certainly true.”
There was one major concern that made his decision to come to UMaine a difficult one.
“The only hesitation was the distance between Orono and Newbury, Mass., where I’m from. It’s a big separation between me and my family.” His wife, Jessica, encouraged him to take the position.
“I’m sure it was a bit more of a difficult decision for [Bob than it was for me], particularly with the family situation .” Whitehead said. “But his heart is in Maine hockey.”
Corkum said he’s making the best of the separation by visiting his wife, sons Kelen, Cain and Koby and his daughter Carley.
“I might get home for 12 or 13 hours this weekend, but it’s only for a year. I plan on bringing everyone up next year,” Corkum said.
Corkum’s oldest son, Kelen, will be joining his father’s team next season – something Whitehead said he is excited to see.
“It’s going to be exciting to have Kelen here along with Bob,” Whitehead said. “Many people don’t realize that we have a relatively young program; we’ve been around for 30 years or so. As a result, Kelen will be the first son of a UMaine hockey alum to play here. So I think that’s going to be very special and will hopefully start a trend of many.”
This year, Kelen is playing for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs and getting himself ready to join the Black Bears after a couple years of injuries.
While waiting for Kelen and the rest of his family to join him in Maine, Corkum is focusing on helping this young squad learn about college hockey – fast. This year’s squad will be challenged because “the speed at this level is like nothing they’ve seen before. The guys are bigger, stronger, older. That’s probably our biggest challenge,” Corkum said. “That being said, if you can look down the road two years, those freshmen will be juniors, and those guys will have a good foundation on which they’ve built.”
Corkum likes what he’s seen from the team so far. It “seems like a very tight-knit group,” he said. He said their competitive nature will help them compete in the long run. “They played some basketball yesterday, and it’s a good thing there weren’t any fouls being called because it was pretty physical, but it was all in good fun and you could really see the competitive nature of the guys come out. That’s exciting because with such a young team they have to be a tight, close family and be on the same page.”
He has faith the team can compete, despite its inexperience and youth, if it plays hard-nosed, smart hockey. “If we can focus on the little things and take care of our own zone, I think we’ll win our fair share of games this year,” he said.
Corkum said he looks forward to his future with the team.
“I think everyone has room to grow, including myself,” he said. “I don’t claim to know everything about the game of hockey or being a part of a program of this magnitude, but we’re all learning and that’s how you get better.”
Corkum reflected on a piece of advice he got from President and CEO of the New Jersey Devils Lou Lamoriello, who picked him up from the airport after he was traded to the Devils. “Our team is like an orchestra,” Lamoriello said. “Everyone has their own instrument to play. So you play yours and he’ll play his. They don’t all play the same instruments, meaning the players all play their own brand of hockey. It takes all the people in the orchestra to make you sound good.”
“It works the same with any good hockey team,” Corkum said.
Bangor Daily News