Weinrich gets to go home again

PORTLAND -- Every rink has its own echoes, the sounds players hear when the stands are empty. Pucks shriek as they careen into Plexiglas, sticks rattle lyrically across the frozen floor and goalie pads thunder throughout the spacious rafters. The sounds vary just a bit from building to building.


In 20 seasons of professional hockey, Gardiner native Eric Weinrich has heard the echoes everywhere, from old barns like Chicago Stadium and the Boston Garden to the amenity-laden new complexes like Philadelphia's Wachovia Center and Vancouver's General Motors Place.



But the echoes that resonate the loudest to Weinrich, still to this day, come from tiny Alfond Arena on the University of Maine's Orono campus.




"One of my best memories was the first practice we had (at Alfond)," said Weinrich, who played for the Maine Black Bears from 1985-88. "We had to wait until midnight, and we went out and there was like a full house there for our first practice. It was like basketball's Midnight Madness. For a freshman, that was a pretty cool experience."

Tonight, Weinrich gets to go back. Set to turn 41 on Wednesday, the American Hockey League's oldest player will be on the ice when his current club, the Portland Pirates, hosts the Manchester Monarchs at Alfond at 7:05 p.m.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.