LEWISTON — Lewiston native Jamie Dumont has seen his share of hockey.
He’s played at the top high school in the country, coached for the best team in Italy, and had stops with top teams such as Bowling Green of the NCAA, the Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and with Bowdoin College — twice.
Now in his second full season with the Polar Bears — in his second stint with the Brunswick school — Dumont is part of a top-flight program that has been selected to host a national championship.
The NCAA announced Monday that Bowdoin College, in conjunction with the Maine Sports Commission and the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, has been awarded the bid to host the Division III Men’s Hockey Championship on March 21-22, 2014.
“It’s going to be a really great eye-opener for how great Division III hockey really is,” Dumont said. “I think it’s going to bring in four excellent hockey programs, and it’s really going to be a treat to watch. Any time you get into a national championship setting. It will be a tough ticket, but it’s just like anything else, it’s going to be a really fun atmosphere.”
Dumont, an assistant coach under longtime bench boss Terry Meagher, now in his 29th season at Bowdoin, is the school’s top hockey recruiter. A 1998 graduate of Oswego State in New York, Dumont worked under Meagher from 2001-05. In his most recent stint with the team, Dumont has helped the Polar Bears again climb in the national standings. Bowdoin this year is ranked No. 5 in the most recent national poll, and is two wins away from securing a NESCAC division title and an automatic berth in the 2013 Division III Men’s Hockey Championship.
Of course, Dumont is hoping the team wins this year. But knowing the championship will be in his backyard a year from now has him also looking ahead, if only slightly.
“If I had a crystal ball, that would be excellent,” Dumont said. “It would be outstanding to play in an event like that a half hour from home, and you never know. But to have some of the powers come out from out West that people here have never heard of … there are some really good hockey programs.”
St. Norbert would certainly qualify under that title. The Green Knights are the two-time defending national champions at the Division III level, and are ranked fourth in the most recent national Division III poll.
“St. Norbert, any of those Minnesota-based schools, and even some more out East, those teams, their top two lines are as good as some of the Division I schools. The caliber is top-notch.”
At 20-3-2, Bowdoin leads the NESCAC, and is the only Maine team currently in the top 15. Dumont’s alma mater, Oswego, sits in third. Norwich Academy of Vermont is the current top-ranked team in Division III.
All of these schools, Dumont said, have high-end talent.
“What happens is, and we see it on our own roster, we have a lot of kids who had interest from Division I schools,” Dumont said. “A lot of our kids want to get on with their life, go to a good school and play in a quality program, rather than taking another year of junior hockey and staying out of school. But in today’s college game, the window between Division I and Division III, it’s amazing how close they are.”
Don’t get Dumont wrong. The big guns at the Division I level will always attract the top available talent. But for the most part, top players in Division III could crack many Division I rosters.
“Now, if you look at the top Division III programs, and the mid-level Division I schools, there’s really not much of a difference,” Dumont said. ” I watch college games all the time. You look at their third- and fourth-lines, our one- and two-lines are just as good from a talent standpoint.
“We make our living here in the NESCAC and at some of the other top Division III schools, we make our living on those ‘in-betweeners,’ who probably could play Division I in a year’s time, or don’t want to go walk on, they want to go to a school where they will be a four-year contributor.”
Bowdoin will face Middlebury on Saturday in the NESCAC semifinal round, looking to solidify a bid to this year’s national tourney in Lake Placid, N.Y.
More Coverage:
- Lewiston to host Division III national hockey championship
- In the Crease: NCAA D-III hockey tourney a chance for everyone to work together
- Tourney a great opportunity for cities
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