BIDDEFORD — Erin Hamlen never saw herself as a pioneer.

Not when she was a goaltender at the University of New Hampshire and helped to usher women’s hockey into the Olympics.

Not when she was the first female to play on a men’s professional team.

And not now, as the first coach of the new women’s hockey team at UNE.

At least she didn’t until she was asked to give the notion some consideration.

“It’s funny,” said Hamlen, who has just moved into her temporary office in Beaudry Gymnasium. “That word has been used so many times when talking to me. I never really thought about it until (now). It’s one of those things you don’t really think about as you’re doing it, obviously. But I keep finding myself in that situation.”

The situation that Hamlen, formerly Erin Whitten, finds herself in now is a highly advantageous one.

She has a new hockey team to build from the ground up, and a new building ”“ the Harold Alfond Forum, now under construction ”“ in which to put it.

And a fast-approaching October deadline ”“ when pre-season practices will start ”“ for bringing the two elements together.

“I feel like I’ve been thrown into the fire, in a sense,” Hamlen said, a mother of two small children. “I kind of live among chaos anyway. It all works out.

“Things are kind of crazy on the recruiting side, trying to field a team by the fall. But we’re getting there.”

Hamlen brings a glowing playing/coaching resume to the job.

During her four seasons at UNH, her last in 1993, Hamlen led the Wildcats to a pair of ECAC titles, and was that league’s Outstanding Goaltender all four years.

That opened the doors to stints with the U.S. National Team, including five stellar years from 1992-97, which netted her USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year honors in 1994.

And, she said, she never gave a thought about going into coaching while playing.

“No,” she said. “I never wanted to coach. Never thought I’d be into coaching. I love teaching, and I loved individual instruction with goaltenders. But I never thought I’d make a career out of it.”

In between U.S. National team seasons, Hamlen still had an itch to play. She found an unusual way to scratch it ”“ playing with guys, something she hadn’t done since backstopping boys teams in high school.

From 1993-95, Hamlen lived the dream of a minor league gypsy, tending the nets for five different teams in three leagues. In doing so, she became a pioneer once more. Again, without much thought about it.

“For me first and foremost, it was about continuing to play,” she said. “After college, there were no opportunities for women. I would have been playing in a beer league somewhere. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to go to continue to play, and stay in shape for the national team. It was an easy choice for me. It was something I was very fortunate to be given.”

Fortune smiled on Hamlen again when her alma mater brought her back into the program, first as a volunteer goalie coach, then as a full assistant.

“It kind of just fell into my lap,” said Hamlen.

Hamlen helped direct the Wildcats to Frozen Four appearances in 2006 and 2008 before stepping down two years ago to concentrate on her family.

She did, however, find time to get her taste of head coaching, with the Boston Blades, the only U.S. entry in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

When the call came from UNE, she was quick to jump at it.

“The opportunity to start a program, (it’s) really cool,” she said. “It’s one of those exciting, once-in-a-lifetime things to do. You never get an opportunity to start from scratch. I’m not living up to anybody. I’m just kind of going to create. It’s an empty canvas.”

Or perhaps another chance to pioneer.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.