It’s starting to feel a lot like the good old days, isn’t it?

A sold-out Alfond Arena watched the Maine Black Bears upset the #1 nationally ranked Boston College Eagles, kindling comparisons to the great Black Bear teams of winter’s long past and allowing the Alfond Faithful to dare to dream of glories not seen around these parts in quite some time.

The BC Eagles soared up to Orono Friday night for the first of a massive two-game series against the Black Bears, surely feeling confident coming off a hot start and 7-1-0 record to open the season. In their way sat a resurgent Maine side, who entered the contest as the 13th best team in NCAA hockey, according to the national polls, surprising Black Bear fans and the wider college hockey universe alike with a 5-1-0 start to what many thought would be another rebuilding season.

Perhaps the most anticipated clash in Orono for decades, all week-long talk of the matchup and, more importantly, how to get one’s hands on a ticket buzzed throughout the state as the Alfond sold out just twelve minutes after the final batch of tickets had been released. Outside the rink, before the Alfond had even opened its doors, thousands of Black Bear fanatics eagerly waited to storm inside the old barn as lines stretched clear around the parking lot an hour and a half before puck drop.

Once inside, a raucous crowd cheered their team to a memorable 4-2 victory, the biggest win of the Ben Barr era and what could prove to be a significant turning point for the hockey program.

On the ice, the Black Bears noticeably entered the game without the big center Nolan Renwick, whom I can only presume missed out due to injury. But the return to the Maine lineup for Brandon Holt was a welcome sight for the Black Bears, as the reliable defenseman was stuck watching from the stands with a boot on his foot last weekend. In at Renwick’s second-line center position stepped up Bentley transfer Harrison Scott, who has impressed so far on both sides of the puck during his first season with the Black Bears.

The boisterous student section was at their rowdy best Friday night as the Maineiaks composed the Alfond atmosphere from their perch in the famous balcony overhanging the ice. Humorous in their chants, the student section picked on Boston College’s stereotyped reputation as an institution for the wealthy elite with chirps such as: “Daddy’s money” and “Trust fund babies” raining down onto the ice.

But from the opening puck drop and throughout the game, the students returned to their tried and trusted “Puck BC” chant — or perhaps a slight alteration was used instead. Either way, the clamorous student section’s energy sparked a red-hot environment throughout Alfond Arena. The sheer intensity of the atmosphere, coupled with the crowd being packed like sardines in a can, caused many to shed their layers as the fever-pitched play on the ice caused a spike off of it as well. Truly an old-school barnburner.

Perhaps it was the nerves of playing a top team like BC, or maybe a bit of overexcitement in playing in front of a huge crowd that saw Maine sputter from the opening faceoff. In any case, Maine struggled out of the gates. It looked like they were holding their sticks too tightly, trying to make the perfect play while simultaneously playing cautiously and reserved with the puck, afraid to make a mistake and hand possession over to the dangerous Eagles.

The early minutes were dominated by BC, whose attack was seemingly always dangerous, causing Victor Ostman to make more than one desperation save to keep the young game scoreless. Boston College’s attack looked like it would cause the Maine defense severe problems all night as the star-studded Eagles could send line after line of NHL-drafted talent to overmatch the Black Bears.

It wasn’t until more than halfway through the first period that the Black Bears started to establish themselves in the contest. During the week, Ben Barr stressed the importance of his team sticking to their game plan and style of play when facing a team as talented as BC. Maine knew that Boston College was always going to create a lot of good chances. It was up to the Black Bears to not panic and change their game under this increased pressure but stick to their systems, using their strengths to get them out of trouble and allow them to begin imposing their own will on BC.

This is precisely what happened as the Black Bears didn’t panic and drift away from their game plan during prolonged the BC attack in the first. Instead, Maine found their rhythm through the strong forecheck sparked by Maine’s star New Brunswick line. Big hits and fearless play from the Black Bears saw their harmless pot-shots on net turn into opportunities of more substance as Maine quickly turned the game’s momentum on its head midway through the first.

BC, who could rush through the neutral zone all too easily for the Black Bear’s liking, began to be hindered as Maine’s team defense system began to click. The Black Bears used their front-foot defending to stop BC in their tracks and create their best offensive chances of the night. This physical and tenacious play led by Lynden Breen, Bradly Nadeau, and Josh Nadeau not only revved up the Alfond crowd but broke down BC’s play and created the beginning of Maine’s offensive impetus on the night. Big hits from the forwards on the forecheck allowed Maine to scoop up the puck in dangerous areas of the ice. At the same time, the defensemen repeatedly stepped up to attack the puck and pin BC back, not allowing the Eagles to break out of their zone cleanly. Maine would not get out of BC’s face as no area of the ice was safe from the Black Bears hunt.

These swings in momentum repeated themselves in the second period. Again, it was Boston College who out-skated Maine early on. The Black Bears were bailed out once again by a terrific post-to-post save from Ostman before the Eagles rang a shot off the post. But moments after BC hit iron, the Black Bears raced down the ice. Josh Nadeau gained the zone and slowed down the play, making a cross-ice pass to his streaking brother, who blasted a shot that trickled behind the BC netminder and sat in the crease for Lynden Breen to pounce on the rebound and send an explosion throughout Alfond Arena.

But again, the momentum flipped. Just as Maine had taken the lead, a soft penalty put the Black Bears on the penalty kill. The Eagles tied the game thanks to a tic-tac-toe backdoor goal on the man advantage that silenced the booming Alfond crowd from just moments before.

With the game tied at one, Maine decided that their best form of defense was to attack. The defensemen continued to pinch aggressively, and the forwards continued to finish their hits on the forecheck, causing Boston College great difficulty generating too much of a prolonged threat to Maine’s goal in the second frame.

Maine rolled out all four of their lines consistently, with all of them showing great gumption in their ability to take the game to BC. The fourth line of Reid Pabich, Nicholas Niemo, and Félix Trudeau provided Maine with the energy to keep the game in BC’s end of the ice and dictate the play. Trudeau, a player who is sometimes divisive to a few in Black Bear Nation because of his high expectations and struggles to reach them because of difficulties with injuries, played with a fire I hadn’t seen from him before. Direct with the puck and determined when chasing it, Trudeau and the fourth line showcased the depth of Barr’s squad. This allowed Maine’s top players to be rested without losing the momentum the team created. Maine’s third and fourth lines stepped up and played gallantly in the biggest game of their careers.

Throughout the remainder of the second, Maine continued to increase the pressure on BC’s net. The Nadeau brothers took over the game, as the duo worked in tandem to break through the Eagles’ defense to create chance after chance, but somehow couldn’t execute in finding the back of the net. Josh Nadeau is so skilled at silkily stick-handling his way through the defense, hypnotizing BC defenders towards him before almost telepathically dishing it to his now wide-open brother to take the shot. The Nadeau brothers were knocking on the door, turning the screw as every scoring chance seemed to trickle closer and closer to finding its way into the BC goal.

The Alfond thought the New Brunswick line had finally and deservingly regained their team’s one-goal advantage when Maine scored on a delayed penalty call. But, a video replay disallowed the goal because it was marginally offside, frustrating the Alfonders. Although BC created plenty of good looks themselves in the second period, Maine was outplaying the top team in the nation, getting the better of the offensive looks and physical play that had Boston College hanging on by a thread as the siren sounded to end the second period.

Still tied at one apiece going into the third, a poor showing from Maine’s power play unit to start the period concerned many in the Alfond that the Black Bears couldn’t capitalize on their momentum, which, with a successful BC penalty kill, was quickly fleeting. But almost as soon as this worry crept around the Alfond, Donovan Houle put the home fans into a frenzy.

All night, Harrison Scott was terrific at the faceoff dot, leading by example as Maine dominated BC at the dots, winning forty-six faceoffs compared to BC’s eighteen. This proved a game changer as Scott’s clean faceoff win trickled to Houle just one minute into the third, who rifled a quick snapshot to put Maine deservingly up 2-1.

Houle, who has gotten off to a slow start this season, played his best game of the season Friday night, like many of his teammates. It was the return of the Donny Hockey we all know and love. Explosive and direct with the puck, Houle was one of Maine’s most influential players Friday night, and it was deserving that he sniped the goal to put Maine up.

The go-ahead goal electrified the Alfond, which was only further amped up minutes later when a two-on-one from Maine saw Lynden Breen dish out a perfect backhand saucer pass to Bradly Nadeau. The pass was perfect. It looped over two BC sticks before landing flatly on the ice for Bradly to one-timer a cannon of a shot that sent the BC goaltender’s water bottle flying into the air as the puck was roofed into the net.

The Alfond Faithful exploded, limbs punched the air, and strangers high-fived and hugged, gleeful in Maine’s 3-1 lead and potential upset of the decade. Taunts of “Overrated, overrated” bounced off the Alfond’s roof and down onto the shocked BC bench.

But the Eagles didn’t stay shocked for long. They replied with a pissed-off and chippy push that saw them cut down Maine’s lead to 3-2 with just over eight minutes remaining. A centering pass was slotted through Ostman’s legs, sending an audible groan around the rink. Boston College wasn’t going to go away easy. An uneasy restlessness from Black Bear fans spread around the barn, made more anxious when Boston College went on the power play soon after their goal.

Ostman and Maine’s penalty kill weathered the storm. The Eagles inched closer and closer to finding an equalizer as BC repeatedly had grade-a scoring opportunities in close. But heroic blocked shots from Bradly Nadeau and Cole Hanson on the penalty kill highlighted Maine’s determination to see out the upset win.

By the time the penalty was killed, Boston College looked as dangerous as they had all game. Their skilled forwards created constant movement and stress for the Maine defense, while their big bodies setting up in front of Ostman gave the Swede a lot of trouble seeing the puck through traffic. The Eagles had the Black Bears running around frantically, trying to extinguish the fire.

The last five minutes of the game felt like an eternity. Maine struggled to break out of their zone cleanly under the increased BC pressure as the Eagles fired shot after shot on the Maine net. The Alfond was as quiet as it had been all night. Nervous and stressed Black Bear fans dared to breathe. Even the usually stoic Ben Barr looked anxious behind the bench with his hands on his head, watching the Boston College onslaught in agony. But the most relaxed person in Orono was Victor Ostman, who handled everything thrown at him faultlessly and calmly.

With over two minutes left, BC pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. The Black Bears fired desperately on the empty net with every half-chance, narrowly missing on the full ice prayers. Finally, a full-ice shot from Grayson Arnott was willed in by all 5,000+ Alfond Faithful as the puck slowly trickled into the net, causing an eruption of relief and euphoria on the ice and in the stands. The Black Bears mobbed their heroic goaltender as the final siren sounded, on cloud nine from their historic upset.

It was celebrations that haven’t been seen this far north in many a year. The jubilee felt in the hearts of Black Bear Nation as they trickled out of Alfond Arena was palpable, and the muttering of 1993 and 1999 passing through lips could be heard.

While nobody can ever take this win away from us, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s a long season, and the Black Bears on the ice and us off the ice need to take it one game at a time.

But let’s also enjoy this victory. The most significant victory for the hockey program in over a decade, that fact should not be lost. This is what it’s all about, after all, right?

The steins will be filled once, twice, three times over as the parties in Orono will blast on long into Saturday morning. But the Black Bears can’t let Friday’s euphoria cause them any hangover when it’s time to lace them up again for game two. Saturday night will bring an even better Boston College team, one that is embarrassed, pissed off, and overflowing with the desire for revenge. It will take another mammoth performance from the Black Bears to have a shot at sweeping. But we now well know that they most certainly can do so. What can’t this team achieve?

Something special is stirring right under our very eyes. The sky’s the limit, and the journey is the adventure.

We are currently living in the good old days. Let’s never take that for granted.

Same again tomorrow?