1998-99 NCAA championship hockey team tops UMaine Sports Hall inductees

The 1998-99 men’s hockey team, which notched the program’s second and last NCAA Division I championship, headlines the list of inductees who will be enshrined in the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame in October.

Joining them will be All-New England women’s soccer player Marie-Andree Canuel; football and track All-American Arel Gordon; regional soccer All-American Paul Kelly; America East first-team women’s basketball guard Sigi Koizar; All-America East basketball second teamer and All-Rookie team pick Kevin Reed; All-American pitcher Larry Thomas and track star Allyson Howatt, who was named the outstanding performer at the 2008 America East outdoor championships.

The Hall of Fame Class of 2024 was chosen by the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame committee and approved by director of athletics Jude Killy.

The induction dinner and ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 4 at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

The 1998-99 hockey team defied the odds in winning the NCAA title. The Black Bears had a limited amount of scholarships as the result of NCAA-imposed sanctions on the program for a variety of violations.

“We had a lot of real good hockey players who would have been fully scholarship players on most teams but took a partial scholarship or didn’t get any scholarship money but still stayed to be part of it,’’ said Alfie Michaud, the goalie of the team who was chosen the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament. “That goes to the character of the kids we had.”

Michaud and other members of the team gather every five years to commemorate the title.

“We were a band of brothers,” said Michaud on Monday while spending time at a reunion of the 1998-99 team in Florida. “We’re celebrating the 25th year anniversary of the championship.”

The team, coached by the late Shawn Walsh who is also in the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame, finished at 31-6-4 and beat Boston College 2-1 in overtime in the Frozen Four semifinal at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim on a Bobby Stewart goal and then topped New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime in the title game on a Marcus Gustafsson game-winner.

Michaud stopped 81 of 84 shots he faced in the two games.

“I was just a piece of the puzzle. We all had a job to do,” said Michaud, who is now an assistant coach at UMaine. “There weren’t a lot of chinks in the armor.

“In my position alone, all three goalies went on to play in the National Hockey League. I don’t know another school in the country that can say that,” said Michaud, who played for Vancouver while back-ups Matt Yeats (Washington) and Mike Morrison (Edmonton, Ottawa, Phoenix) also made it.

Eleven members of the team signed NHL contracts. They had two All-Americans in center Steve Kariya and defenseman David Cullen.

Michaud said to be inducted into the school’s hall of fame is special because they will be in the same exhibit as the 1992-93 team that won the first hockey title.

“We won’t be forgotten,” said Michaud.

Worcester, Mass. native Reed, the girls basketball coach at Bangor Christian, had an outstanding career at UMaine and ranks fifth on the all-time scoring list (1,601 points), eighth in rebounds (732) and third in steals (225).

“It is obviously an honor. It’s a privilege,” said Reed, who played three years of professional basketball in Europe after his UMaine career ended.

“It’s unexpected and it’s special. When I first got to UMaine, I didn’t expect this to be the outcome. My mindset was play hard, do your best and let the chips fall where they may,” said Reed.

“I was recruited by the University of Maine so it was my duty to leave it all on the floor every single night as a way of saying I appreciate the opportunity. And that’s what I did,” he added.

He also met his wife, Hannah (Socoby) at UMaine.

“It was more than just a school I played basketball for, I grew up at Maine,” said Reed, who had the thrill of watching sons Jalen and Rajon lead Bangor Christian to the state Class D basketball title this past season.

“It was the proudest moment I’ve had in the sport of basketball,” said Reed, who also has a daughter Jordyn.

Canuel’s stack of accomplishments include being named America East’s Midfielder of the Year in 2005 after being named the league’s Rookie of the Year the previous season. She was a three-time America East All-Tournament choice.

Speedster Gordon was a dynamic return specialist. He had three punt return TDs in his career, which is a school record, and had two kickoff return TDs in 2004. He had 729 kickoff return yards in 2004 which was a school record.

He was all conference first team as a return specialist, a second-team running back and a third team wide receiver.

As a sprinter, he earned All-American status by posting a school-record time of 6.71 while finishing seventh in the 60-meter dash at the 2007 NCAA championships.

He also owns the school record in the 200 meters (21.19).

Austrian Koizar was a first team Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl choice as an exchange student at Stearns High in Millinocket before putting together a terrific career at UMaine.

In addition to her three All-America East first team accolades, Koizar was also a two-time America East all-tourney pick.

The energetic guard is ninth on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,671 points), eighth in assists (368), sixth in 3-pointers (184), 10th in steals (179) and third in games played (130).

Lefthander Thomas was the 1991 North Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Year and was chosen an All-American thanks to his 9-4 record, 2.54 earned run average and 108 strikeouts which ranks second in program history for strikeouts in a season.

He was a second round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox (69th overall). He made 79 relief appearances in three seasons for the White Sox, posting a 2-3 record and 3.02 earned run average.

Kelly was the only player in the defunct men’s soccer program to be named a first team All-North Atlantic Conference choice three times in his career.

He was a 1994 America East all-tournament pick and played four seasons in the USL pro league. He was a first team USL all-star in 1999 and competed in the 1995 U.S. Olympic festival and 2000 Major League Soccer combine.

Howatt held eight school records when she graduated in 2010 and is on 15 UMaine top-10 lists. She won the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the 2008 America East outdoor championships and was also on the triumphant 4X400-meter relay team.

She competed at the Canadian Olympic trials that summer.