A long line of Black Bear fans waited outside the Alfond Arena on Friday night to get into the first game of the University of Maine men’s hockey team’s regular season.
It was also the first game day for the Black Bears inside the newly renovated Alfond Arena, with fans marveling at the $50 million facelift and reveling in the return of college hockey — even if it meant waiting a little longer to get inside the building.
“Everybody’s happy to be here,” season ticket holder Tam Trafford of Dedham said outside the stadium before the game. “If you have to stand in line, you have to stand in line.”
She was excited to see the newly renovated building, which includes a new entryway, new concession stand and larger merchandise area, much larger locker rooms along with player lounges, and more spaces honoring legendary teams and players from UMaine’s past.
Even with all the new amenities, Trafford expected the atmosphere in the Alfond to remain unchanged.
“The fans are going to be the same,” she said. “It’s just, you know, a nicer outfit.”
She and her husband Jimmy Crain were ready for the return of Black Bear hockey, and impressed by what they could see so far of the facility.
“It’s absolutely stunning,” Trafford said from outside. “But the hockey is the hockey.”
And the hockey has been good the last few years.
UMaine won the Hockey East tournament last year for the first time since 2004, and has made the NCAA tournament the last two seasons.
Longtime fan and season ticket holder Tony Bagley from Searsport expects the new stadium renovations, which were supported by a $170 donation from the Harold Alfond Foundation toward various athletic facility upgrades at UMaine, to make a difference both for the fan experience and for recruiting future players to Orono.
He was excited for those additions, but most excited to watch the Black Bears take the ice again.
“It’s great to be back,” Bagley said.
Dan Farrington from Newport Maine is another longtime UMaine hockey fan. He’s been coming to games since the late 1980s as a kid. And he was excited to get a closer look at the changes to the Alfond.
“It looks amazing, and it’s catching up to the times, with technology, and catching up with some of the other arenas around the country,” Farrington said while getting onto a new free shuttle that fans can take across campus from a parking area to the arena.
That wasn’t the only new thing for fans to experience on Friday night. It was also the first men’s hockey game where fans could buy beer and bring it to their seats, a change that the university announced earlier this fall for home football and men’s hockey games.
It was a long day of celebration, with the UMaine women’s hockey team kicking things off with a 3-0 win over Saint Anselm. Then before the men’s game, there was a fan fest and concert featuring country band 12/OC.
The first half of the men’s game similarly provided plenty for the Black Bear faithful to cheer about, with UMaine taking a 4-1 lead against visiting Holy Cross into the third period.
Amid the sea of longtime Black Bears supporters on Friday night were some new fans. And Emma Rancourt was one of the newest.
The 6-month-old accompanied her parents, Sarah and Ryan Rancourt of Hermon, for the season opener.
“We came all last year, I was pregnant with her, and we came to every home game,” Sarah Rancourt said. And she and her husband decided that they needed to bring her to the season opener. “Here she is, she’s in her little Black Bear attire, and she’s ready to go.”
“We just love hockey,” Ryan Rancourt, a UMaine alum, said. “Hockey’s always been a big part of my life. I grew up playing.”
He was really excited to get season tickets a year ago, and even more excited to share his love of the sport with his growing family.
“Oh, it’s everything,” he said. “Happy to pass it on to the little one.”
Farrington, the longtime fan from Newport, knows how powerful a lifelong fandom can be.
“It’s important to Mainers. We’ve followed them since we were kids,” Farrington said. “And we’ve seen them when they were great, when they were awful, and it’s time we get back to the top.”
