Weekend Preview @ Merrimack

Conference play opens as Maine travels for tough test at Merrimack.

The Maine Black Bears embark on another trip south to face off with yet another blue-and-gold-clad adversary. Opening up Hockey East regular season play against the Merrimack Warriors in a two-game set in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Coming off of a weekend split against the defending national champions and 5th-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats, left Maine ranked #20 in USCHO’s Division I Poll as voted on by top college coaches and journalists from across the country. The last time Maine was ranked in the national polls was March 2020, when the #15 ranked Black Bears’ season was cut short right before the playoffs began due to the pandemic.

While seeing Maine’s name in the national polls for the first time in years was elating and created tons of excitement across Black Bear Nation, Head Coach Ben Barr had an interesting view on seeing his team ranked nationally. He brought up a good point in the Black Bear’s Coaches Show Wednesday night that although it shows that it is a step in the right direction for his program, only being ranked 20th means that one-third of the sixty-four total Division I hockey teams are better than the Black Bears, showing that the team still has a long way to go. But it wasn’t that long ago that saw Maine routinely in the bottom third of the mathematical Pairwise rankings when Barr first took over the program, and it shows just how much Barr’s Black Bears have already improved.

The series split with Quinnipiac gave Maine more than just a boost in the rankings but provided precious information to the Black Bears on what was successful and what was not.

Starting with the negative aspects of Maine’s performance over the two games in Connecticut, the most glaringly obvious being the lack of offense created during even-strength and man-advantages. This was partly due to Quinnipiac’s stellar, brick-like defense that made it extremely difficult for Maine to even enter their offensive zone cleanly, nevertheless create substantial goal-scoring opportunities. Even when the Black Bears had an extra player on the ice, their attack could not execute. The Power Play was held scoreless in eleven chances over the weekend.

Secondly, Maine did not react well when their own net was put under pressure. When Quinnipiac was relentlessly attacking and ramping up the pressure, Maine panicked and was not able to raise their own game to match their opponents. This alarm in Maine’s psyche could be seen in the countless puck-handling mistakes that even the most reliable Black Bears made during the onslaught of Quinnipiac pressure and zone time. Maine will need to take a lot away and learn from these negative aspects of their game to not let future opponents find success by trying to duplicate Quinnipiac’s game plan and shut down the Black Bears.

At the same time, there are plenty of positives from last weekend; after all, Maine’s win Friday night was one of the biggest upsets of the college hockey season so far. Victor Ostman looked stellar in the Maine net. Countless times in both games, he bailed out his team with terrific post-to-post saves on dangerous one-timers, as well as absorbing a couple of Quinnipiac breakaways.

I was also impressed with Maine’s second line. The big bodies of Donovan Houle, Nolan Renwick, and Ben Poisson acquitted themselves well throughout the weekend, creating some of Maine’s best scoring chances. The line was slow to find their feet this season, but it was noticeable how dangerous they are when using their size and strength to force turnovers, protect the puck, drive to the net, and bury rebounds, playing a very direct game. All qualities which are vital when trying to break down a team as structured and robust as Quinnipiac’s.

According to Barr, Maine will have the opportunity this weekend to improve upon their flaws as Merrimack will provide similar types of challenges for the Black Bears to face.

The Warriors’ biggest strength is their team depth, with a complete roster of players that can significantly impact the game. Merrimack has excelled in the transfer portal the past few years since its inception, using the portal to bring in many Division I veterans who can use their experience to play significant roles for the Warriors. Merrimack can assemble a lineup full of these impact players, who can slide in nicely to the well-structured team.

Highlighting this depth is their dynamic duo of netminders, Hugo Ollas and Zach Borgiel. The tandem is one of the best in college hockey. Maine will likely face both over the weekend as Head Coach Scott Borek chooses to rotate his abundance of riches regularly. This means that the Black Bears will not face a fatigued goaltender and must create opportunities of real substance to beat either of them.

Oh, and Hugo Ollas is 6’8”. Without skates.

Merrimack’s structured formation will be another test of Maine’s offense. Not only are the Warriors a tough team to play against, but their home rink will create a tight affair on the ice. Although the dimensions of Lawler Rink are the standard 200’ x 80’, according to Barr, the low roof makes the rink feel smaller than it actually is.

Barr highlighted that for Maine to be successful this weekend, his team won’t be able to rely on the top line’s ability to skate the puck around and create scoring opportunities off the rush. But the compact ice will force his team to be much more willing to play a tight, grinding, hard-nosed game, where every inch of ice will be ferociously fought over.

To do this, Barr stressed the importance of playing a stereotypical road performance, where making simple and efficient plays proves to be crucial in overcoming a home team and a home crowd.

The Black Bears will not only need to quiet the Merrimack attack but also the Merrimack crowd.

The low roof not only makes the ice feel smaller but the noisy Merrimack student section’s commotion is said to reverberate off the metal roof. For this reason, the underrated Lawler Rink is one of the loudest and most challenging arenas for visiting teams to play in.

Barr and his team know this all too well, as not only did they lose both games at Merrimack last year, but they were battered by the Warriors during a raucous Hockey East playoff game two years ago, ending that season for the Black Bears.

Simple and efficient.

The similarities between the two programs is interesting. Where Merrimack is right now is where Barr and Maine want to be in a couple years. The perennial Hockey East underdogs have come on bounds in the past few seasons under Scott Borek, making it to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team last season, as well as appearing in the Hockey East Championship Game.

Merrimack is in the big time, right where Maine wants to be.

Not only do they also play a similar style — arduous effort with a high pace for all ninety minutes — but Merrimack’s program is seeing a similar revamp as the college has poured tons of money and resources into Lawler Rink and the hockey program in the past few years.

I expect the lineup to remain largely unchanged from last weekend’s games as it has stayed, for the most part, untouched since the beginning of the season. It sounds like forward Aidan Carney and defenseman Brandon Holt are still missing with injuries, so the only possible change to the lineup might be between Sully Scholle and Nicholas Niemo on the fourth-line wing, both of whom played one game over last weekend, being rotated for each other.

It seemed as though Barr was not completely satisfied with the culture and identity of his team last week. While there didn’t seem to be a lack of effort, perhaps a shortage of directing that energy into playing correctly within the game plan was the reason for Maine’s shortcomings.

The Black Bears have another chance to stamp their name on the college hockey map this weekend. Merrimack, ranked just behind Maine in the early-season polls, will be gunning to build on an impressive away win at Northeastern last weekend. The Warriors are one of the favorites to once again be one of the top teams in the conference, continuing to build on the past few years.

Expectations and aspirations-wise, seeing another two-game split on the road would feel like a lovely way to start conference play. Losing both would feel demoralizing. And sweeping Merrimack? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now.

Maine will want to follow in Merrimack’s footsteps and be the next rebuilding program to reach the limelight of Hockey East. To achieve such heights, they need to overcome those in front of them.

And the Warriors will be on the ice right in front of them.

Two evenly matched teams. All weekend long. It’s going to be quite the battle.