The #5 Maine Black Bears’ Sunday matinee matchup with the #2 Boston College Eagles was an eye-opening experience for Head Coach Ben Barr and his team.

Maine had headed into the top-five showdown weekend oozing with confidence and swagger, unbeaten to start their season. Anything felt possible.

But after letting a two-goal third-period lead slip away in heartbreaking fashion on Friday night, Maine fell flat Sunday afternoon, shut out 3-0.

Friday’s loss was stunning. Sunday’s was humbling.

Now, they have to sit with the harsh realization, during their four-hour bus ride home, that they are still a long way from where they want to be. Where many, in fact, thought they were.

“We are not good enough yet. Everyone’s been telling us you’re 6-0 [record] or whatever we started. We just got swept by a better team. That hurts. Part of it’s probably me being emotional and my ego being hurt right now cause we’re all human. But at the end of the day, we’re just not good enough,” Barr said after Sunday’s loss. “That’s eye-opening for us.”

Sunday scaries. A chastening realization. Boston College was simply a class above Maine.

After Friday night’s capitulation, everyone inside the Conte Forum knew the Black Bears were going to come out snarling, hungry to put that painful result behind them.

But Boston College was ready, knowing they would also need to be improved, feeling fortunate to have won on Friday in the fashion they did.

“It almost had the feeling that we stole one on Friday. We did have a very good third, but it wasn’t the consistent sixty [minute performance].  You couldn’t say we were the better team that night. It was good for our guys to see how good Maine was; what a strong game they play. So we knew we were going to have to be very sharp today.” BC’s Head Coach Greg Brown said.

Maine did come out for the first period with a ferocious effort, forcing BC netminder Jacob Fowler to make a number of crucial saves, including stonewalling a Black Bear three-on-one opportunity from a Sully Scholle shot.

Fowler, all weekend long, was sensational.

Last year’s Hockey East Goaltender of the Year and a third-round draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens in 2023, the sophomore is once again looking like arguably the best goaltender in the country.

He was active in stopped the puck behind the net on Maine dump-ins, severely limiting the Black Bears’ effectiveness on the forecheck, controlling rebounds masterfully, and reading the play through traffic with x-ray-like vision.

It felt as though Maine could have stayed on the ice shooting at Fowler all night long and nothing would get past the Florida native.

The Boston College defense in front of him was impressive as well, growing more solid and sturdy as the game went along.

“Our D-core, in general, was very good at taking ice away,” said Brown. I think we did a much better job tonight through the neutral zone. One, our forwards got back better than last night. But two, our defense was able to surf and take away a lot of time, so that helped.”

By ‘surf,’ Brown is alluding to his defensemen’s ability to close the gap to the Maine puck carrier in a curved direction rather than barreling straight toward the puck carrier in a direct line. By bending this pathway, the defenseman is able to cut down more of the angles available to the puck carrier to pass or skate into.  This corrales them into a smaller area of the ice, slowing down the attack, and allowing more defensive bodies above the puck. BC did a terrific job at this, absorbing many Maine rushes up ice, which usually petered out in the corners or against the boards.

Meanwhile, Maine’s defense was shaky in the neutral zone. And with the puck in their own end, they struggled to break out past the Eagles forecheck and through the neutral zone. At no point in the game was Maine able to string together a series of passes to get up the ice. Meanwhile BC’s passes were crisp, clean, and cut through the Black Bear defense in the blink of an eye.

[We] couldn’t get out of our zone clean. Our D had a really hard time getting us out of our zone this weekend. That’s something we obviously have to work on,” Barr said.

BC was stronger on their sticks, faster getting to loose pucks, and won more battles in the neutral zone, allowing their skilled and speedy forwards to buzz around Albin Boija’s net on the rush.

Maine’s first period was an improvement over Friday.  Then a second period surge sparked by the Black Bears’ forecheck, which was clicking for the first time all weekend, allowed Maine to get their most sustained offensive zone time of the weekend. 

But just as the Black Bears’ offense looked like it was about to get back to their grinding, hounding, stuff-it-down-your-throat identity, BC’s Ryan Leonard lit the lamp with a postage-stamp perfect snipe midway through the second frame, taking all wind out of Maine’s sails.

The Black Bears would get two more high-quality scoring chances late in the second period, but Fower stonewalled a promising Lynden Breen chance before slamming the door shut on a Thomas Freel breakaway effort.

These grade-A chances were too few and too far between. The Black Bears mainly had to settle for pot shots, hoping to jam away for a rebound, which was often cleared by active BC sticks.

“We just didn’t get enough good looks. Their chances were much better than ours,” Barr said. 

The Black Bears' third-period push, desperately searching for a goal, sputtered out without much pushback. From this point on, Fowler and the Eagles completely slammed the door shut, suffocating Maine’s offense and not allowing the Black Bears to get up ice.

“Our third period, like last night, was our best period,” Brown said. “We got above pucks much better; we managed the pucks much better. I think we only had one blue line turnover that you could say was ill-advised. Other than that we did a great job managing the puck and not giving them any free offense; everything they got, they had to earn, it was not just loose hockey. It was a good winning formula the way we played in the third.”

Boston College all night was winning the physical battle with Maine, ruthlessly pounding the Black Bears into the boards on the forecheck, at center ice, and off the puck. This ground the Black Bears down, squeezing the attacking life out of Maine.

“You have to match their physicality, and you have to be ready for it. I think we did a great job at that. They had delivered some big hits early, especially, but I thought we matched it very well,” Brown said.

Boston College was beating Maine at their own game. Out-hitting, out-working, and out-playing the Black Bears in every area of the ice during the third period, and with greater intensity, leaving Maine looking devoid of hope and fight, unable to spark themselves back into the game.

“I thought our first period was okay, and then it just got gradually worse. That’s a credit to BC; they’re fantastic. All of their players played really well, and they just wore us down,” Barr said.

During the final period, BC gave a clinic on how to close out a game. The Eagles played keep-away from Maine, who couldn’t get the puck off BC sticks with any regularity. When Maine did have the puck, they could barely hold on to it, being squeezed off by the neutral zone trap the Eagles had set.

Maine could only muster seven shots on goal during the third period.

By the time Andre Gasseau doubled the Eagles’ lead midway through the third, the deficit felt like a monumental mountain to climb.

Gasseau would score another via an empty net with seven seconds remaining, sealing the Eagles’ sweep over the Black Bears.

So, where does this leave Maine?

Although the performance at times was better in spurts than it was on Friday, Maine left Chestnut Hill empty-handed and humbled by a clearly superior Boston College team.

Now, with a 6-2-1 record, it is clear that the Black Bears are simply not yet good enough to win on the road against a top-tier opponent, despite what much of Black Bear Nation believed and hoped heading into this weekend.

“We weren’t ready to go and beat a really good team on the road yet, and that’s really disappointing,” Barr said.

In both road series this year, Maine just didn’t look like the same team as they do when in front of an Alfond crowd. When on the road, they didn’t have the same explosive dynamism and snarling intensity as they do at home.

If Maine wants to achieve the things they dream of achieving at neutral sites such as Boston’s TD Garden and the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, they need to figure out how to take their Alfond A-game on the road.

How can they do this? That’s up to Barr and his coaching staff to figure out.

Can they do this? Sure, they can. According to Barr, Maine will need to double down on their strengths, pushing the envelope of their culture and character further, squeezing every ounce out of it that they can.

“I didn’t see signs of us being a great team [this weekend]. Do I think we can? Yes. I do. I think we have the character to do it. By understanding how you have to play to beat a team like that is important, and we didn’t come close to it this weekend,” Barr said.

This weekend was always going to be a measuring stick to gauge where this early-season Maine team is at.

They showed that they could indeed skate with the very best, at times giving them everything they could handle. Yet, they are still a few steps away from putting the pieces together to be able to beat the best.

It’s not where Black Bear Nation hoped to be, but it is by no means a terrible place to be.

It’s better to learn these lessons in November than face the harsh realities in the springtime when it’s too late.

“The good thing is that it’s still early in the year, so we have a chance to go and get better,” Barr said.

Maine has now seen what it would take to beat the best in college hockey, and that hill is not a million miles away. It’s a mountain to climb, but it’s by no means insurmountable. 

On to BU.

Don’t poke the bear.