The University of Maine will be playing at Fenway Park, but it won’t be for baseball.

Hockey East announced Friday the University of Maine Black Bears men’s ice hockey team will face their rivals, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats Saturday, January 7, 2012 at Fenway Park in Boston, Mass. at 7:30pm, as part of the Frozen Fenway 2012.

Also playing at the historic ball park will be the University of Vermont and the University of Massachusetts, which will play the first game.

“Few experiences in my four decades in college hockey were as special as the first Frozen Fenway in 2010,” said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. “It was a once in a lifetime experience for our four schools the first time around and I expect the same in 2012. Given that we will help launch Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary season, we are doubly grateful for this opportunity.”

The excitement is felt throughout the whole program.

“The rumors have been floating around for a while, the boys have been excited for quite a while,” said Maine head coach Tim Whitehead. “Now that we can officially talk about it, I can tell you for sure, the players and their families are very excited about this.”

“I think it’s going to be awesome,” said Lewiston native Mark Anthoine who will be entering his sophomore year with the Black Bears. “It’s going to be a great experience all around, it’s against our rivals, UNH, and it’s just going to be a great trip.”

The Black Bears will be giving up a home date at the Alfond and will be the home team. Both Whitehead and Anthoine said they didn’t mind giving up a home game for a chance to play at the home of the Boston Red Sox.

“In the end, (Athletic Director) Steve Abbott and myself felt the benefits outweigh negatives,” Whitehead said. “It’s our hope that as many fans and season ticket holders can come down. The other thing we looked at is the opportunity for fans from Southern Maine. It’s difficult for them to come see us play and all the alums in New England that live in the Boston area. It’s a great opportunity for them.”

“It’s not every day that you get a chance to play at Fenway,” Anthoine said. “We have pretty loyal fans, and I think they will be behind us no matter what, whether it’s at (Fenway) or the Alfond. Even though the Alfond is my favorite place to play hockey in general, but I think it’s worth what we are doing. It will be good experience for us and the fans.”

Whitehead will prepare his team prior to the event by taking practices outdoors.

“When we get closer to the event, we will start talking to the team about that,” Whitehead stated about the elements the team might face. “Maybe we will get on one of the pond in Northern Maine. For our guys when we come down out of the Arctic Circle to Boston, for us it should feel warmer.”

Whitehead said the team can’t look ahead to this game with a tough early schedule.

“It’s going to be one of the highlights in the year, but certainly we have some great games on the slate from the start,” Whitehead stated. “We play the defending Canadian National Champions in the (University of) New Brunswick, getting a rematch with Merrimack, Northeastern, then getting a great road trip out to North Dakota. We got a lot of great contests to start.”

Anthoine doesn’t have any potential post goal celebrations at this moment.

“If I scored at Fenway, I don’t even know if I am going to be able to celebrate,” Anthoine chuckled. “I would be so excited and hopefully it’s a big goal for the team.”

For the most part, players are Red Sox fans.

“I think it’s a wide variety, but I say the majority are Red Sox fans,” Anthoine added. “I don’t know how many are “true” fans, I know there are a few Yankees fans and fans of other teams.”

Anthoine wouldn’t say who on the team are fans of the “Evil Empire.”

“I can’t think off the top of my head who is, but there’s at least one,” said with a chuckle.