This weekend is homecoming at the University of Maine, and six former Maine athletes will be inducted into the Black Bear Hall of Fame, including hockey player Dave Capuano, who now lives in Rhode Island.

The Providence Journal caught up with Capuano, a father of two who scored 89 goals and had 211 points in three seasons at Maine:

(Capuano) was Maine's first two-time first-team All-America and two-time Hobey Baker Award finalist. He was also first-team All-Hockey East and All-New England twice. In 104 NHL games with four teams Capuano scored 17 goals and assisted on 38 for 55 points. He retired after the 1994 season, which he spent with the Providence Bruins (24-29-53 in 51 games).

"The (NHL) experience on the whole was fantastic. I played with Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh. I had dinner with Wayne Gretzky. I went fishing with Paul Coffey," he said.

The Black Bear Hall of Fame honorees will be recognized at the football game against Northeastern and at the hockey game against Northeastern on Oct. 25, and will be formally inducted in a ceremony at noon Oct. 26 at the Black Bear Inn in Orono.

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It's another homecoming of sorts for Northeastern Coach Greg Cronin, who coached at Maine from 1993 to 1996. Cronin's wife is from Van Buren and his family owns a summer home in York County. Cronin also was a graduate assistant at Maine from 1988 to 1990 as he was earning his MBA.

"The first couple times I came up here it was strange because I'd spent six years in Orono," said Cronin, the Huskies' fourth-year coach. "I was used to coaching the Blue and White and I caught myself a couple times looking at them rather than us, but I've washed that out. We're driving up and I'm thinking, I'm going back and representing Northeastern."

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