Allez Donny Hockey!

Donovan Houle helped lead the charge with two special teams goals as the Maine Black Bears outlasted the Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks 5-3 on Friday evening at Alfond Arena.

After stumbling to find their shooting form for the first time all season against a heavy, grinding UConn Huskies last Saturday, the Black Bears were tested against this type of foe again, needing to figure out a way to break down an equally stubborn Lowell defense.

The first two series of 2024 have shown that Maine's usually high-powered attack can go stagnant when facing off with a well-structured, physical, defensive-minded opponent. The Black Bears, who love to soar up through open ice, creating their high-octane offense off the rush through tic-tac-toe passes leading to highlight reel goals, have struggled in recent weeks when their opponents negate any open ice and force the Black Bears into a muck-it-up, grinding style of game.

While UMass Lowell's season has so far been one to forget for highly esteemed Head Coach Norm Bazin, the River Hawks flew north knowing they possessed the perfect characteristics to pull off an upset in Orono. Defensively astute, well-organized, and physically tough, Lowell had the right formula to spoil Maine's plans.

To break down the brick wall Lowell would present, the Black Bears would need to scrap their free-flowing attack for a more dogged, bruising, and gritty style that relies on dumping pucks in deep, grinding the River Hawks down with a relentless forecheck, forcing turnovers, and throwing men and pucks towards the net.

To succeed in playing this brand of hockey, the Black Bears would need to establish themselves in front of Lowell's net. An increased net-front presence looks to pounce on rebounds, screen the goaltender, and redirect shots. All greasy goals, but ones that matter on the scoreboard just the same.

Head Coach Ben Barr elected to go with the same lineup that struggled to play to this style during last Saturday's loss down in Connecticut. Anthony Calafiore kept his place as the fourth-line right-winger over Nicholas Niemo, while Victor Osmtan was back in the net replacing Albin Boija.

But the lineup decision on the minds of many Black Bear fans was Barr's decision to split up the New Brunswick line, moving centerman Lynden Breen alongside Thomas Freel and Donovan Houle while pairing Harrison Scott in between Bradly and Josh Nadeau.

Barr first tweaked his top two lines in the third period last Friday, sparking a big comeback victory over UConn. He stuck with the change for Saturday's game, but resulted in much less effect. Against Lowell, Maine would again start with Scott centering the Nadeau brothers, but Barr would flip back and forth between which trio set-up he liked better throughout Friday's contest.

Scott, rock-solid and strong as an ox, brings a tremendous net-front ability to the ice. When paired alongside the smaller but more skilled Nadeau brothers, it allows Bradly and Josh the freedom to continue to play to their strengths in . They can creatively set each other up for scoring chances, knowing that Scott will be doing the dirty work down-low to screen the goaltender, tie up defensemen, and look to redirect shots or pounce on rebounds.

Meanwhile, Breen, who is smaller than Scott, is still excellent down-low, particularly in rolling off defenders with the puck behind the net. But he can be shoved away from net-front positioning by the vastly larger defensemen he is battling with. However, Breen is a more naturally gifted goalscorer and playmaker, which balances him nicely alongside the scrappy spark plug in Freel and fellow senior Houle, with whom he has excellent on-ice chemistry. Both Freel and Houle bring the physicality in front of net that Breen can't.

Since returning from their Christmas break, Maine has struggled to get going from the opening puck drop, often falling behind just minutes or seconds into the contest. Allowing the opposition the early lead not only forces Maine to play catch-up, making them more exposed at the back, but also gives the opposition something to protect and stay more defensively focused and conservative.

This bad dream of a start reared its ugly head once again Friday night as the River Hawks jumped out to an early lead just under three minutes into the contest. Maine's defensemen failed to clear out a flock of River Hawk attackers from Ostman's crease, allowing Lowell's forwards to freely whack and hack away until, eventually, the puck snuck its way into Maine's net on the second or third rebound attempt, leaving the Alfond in a concerned murmur.

This time, it was a lack of net-front presence on the defensive end that haunted Maine.

On a frigid winter's night in Orono, it took the Black Bears plenty of time to thaw into the game.

Maine struggled to build enough of a head of steam to chip away at Lowell's early game momentum. Struggling to break out of their own end past Lowell's well-structured neutral zone forecheck, weak passes up the boards and sloppy puck play put the Black Bears on the backfoot early in the period.

A Bradly Nadeau goaltender interference penalty midway through the opening frame put UMass Lowell in prime position to tack on to their lead. But up-stepped the dynamic duo of Lynden Breen and Donovan Houle. With Lowell naturally pressing on the man advantage, a turnover in Maine's zone allowed Breen to carry the puck up-ice with speed and a rare amount of open ice. Houle his longtime linemate in past years, jumped up in the play with Breen, causing a short-handed odd-man rush. Breen patiently waited for the Lowell defenseman to commit to him before sliding the puck to Houle in the slot. Houle buried the short-handed goal, immediately sparking the home crowd to life and erasing the River Hawks's momentum with a single flick of the wrist.

In a rumble-tumble contest that would see both teams exhibit a pattern of momentum gained, erased, and suddenly ignited once, the Black Bears would not be able to build off the energy created from Houle's goal.

The short-handed goal was Maine's best scoring look in the first period. Unable to trigger the success of their forecheck which was needed to spark their offense, the Black Bears simply couldn't pen the River Hawks back with any sustained pressure. Lowell's puck handlers, big-bodied and strong on their sticks, did a great job at absorbing Maine's forecheck, rolling off hits before breaking up ice.

Once in the Black Bear zone, the River Hawks used their size to shield the puck from Maine defenders and cycle it around the boards, creating plenty of chances that Ostman stepped up to deal with.

In the final minutes of the opening period, the Black Bears finally started to get their even-strength offensive production going. Maine's fourth line of Ben Poisson, Cole Hanson, and Anthony Calafiore were excellent all game in kindling Maine's fire when the Black Bears were treading water. Maine, unable to create offense from the rush and being neutralized on the forecheck, turned to their fourth line to jolt energy back into the team.

Maine's late first-period push stemmed from a massive open-ice check by Poisson that imprinted a River Hawk into the Alfond ice. The turnover not only created one of the Black Bears' first grade-a scoring chances but was just the push-back Maine needed to loosen Lowell's control.

Poisson, a graduate student who hasn't had the same offensive production as in recent seasons, played his role as a fourth-line grinder exceptionally well Friday night in his best performance of the season. The big power forward from British Columbia not only made himself known by rattling the glass with River Hawks all night. He also routinely set himself up right in front of the Lowell crease, where even the River Hawks's biggest and burliest defensemen couldn't outmuscle Poisson.

It was the epitome of net-front presence. The veteran owned this area of the ice and wouldn't let anyone evict him from his home.

The second period began as the first ended, with Maine slightly on top, finding their feet with every passing minute. But even while slowly gaining momentum, the Black Bears still couldn't establish enough sustained zone time to overwhelm the Lowell defense. The River Hawks defense, so strong around their net with active sticks, frustrated the Black Bears who couldn't quite feed their centering passes on net with enough precision. Lowell excelled at taking away the center of the ice and reguarly boxing out Maine forwards from crashing the net.

Just as Maine's hard work on the forecheck began to find its legs and start to wear down Lowell, the referees intervened when a tenacious and excellently crafted Thomas Freel forecheck turned forced turnover was called for a hooking penalty.

It was a soft call that once again tipped the game's momentum on its head as the rest of the second period was an onslaught of River Hawk pressure with not much of a Black Bear answer from that point on.

Victor Ostman, who looks low on confidence, has struggled in recent weeks and looked to be fighting the puck early on Friday night. But the veteran netminder grew into the contest with every save he conjured up and soon looked to be back at his game-saving best. With Lowell now entirely on the front foot, smelling a go-ahead goal, Ostman bailed out his team with plenty of big-time scrambling saves from bouncing pucks. He made the saves his team needed from him, allowing the Black Bears to get back into the dressing room and regroup with the game still tied.

In a rollercoaster of a game that saw neither team able to build on their own momentum and rattle off a series of strong shifts in a row, the third period was to be decided by whoever could string together enough good phases of play and capitalize when their side was on top.

All four of Maine's lines began to stack solid shift after solid shift as the Black Bears forecheck started to click for the first time all night, creating turnovers in Lowell's zone through hard-nosed play. The first Maine forechecker would implant himself into the River Hawk puck carrier, who usually flipped a desperate pass up the boards where a pinching Black Bear blueliner would come steaming into the Lowell winger at the half-boards. A covering Maine forward would be backing up the play at the point and, in prime position, would recover the loose puck and quickly turn Lowell's breakout into Maine offense.

The Black Bears were turning the screw, looking closer to a go-ahead goal as every passing shift improved on the prior one’s great work.

Entirely on the backfoot, the River Hawks, frazzled, took a too many men on the ice penalty, allowing the Black Bears' dangerous power play on the ice halfway through the third. Winning an ever-important puck battle in Maine's offensive corner, Breen spun around to feed longtime teammate Houle with another tape-to-tape pass. Silky smooth mitts put Houle in the slot; going forehand to backhand, he roofed a postage-stamp-perfect shot 'top-shelf where mama hides the cookies,' sending the Alfond Faithful into a frenzy.

While only five Black Bear skaters were on the ice for the goal, it was created through an entire team effort of stacking very positive back-to-back-to-back shifts together, wearing down the River Hawks, and eventually breaking them.

A complete team goal.

UMass Lowell was now forced to play catch-up and come out of their defensive shell. The River Hawks were more exposed at the back, creating amounts of open ice not seen all night, perfectly falling to the Black Bears' strengths.

Less than a minute after Maine took the lead, the Black Bears would tack on another goal courtesy of David Breazeale. Calafiore, battling down-low in the corner, freed up space for Hanson to swoop down and pick up the loose puck. Circling up the half-boards and surveying his options, he found the Maine co-captain fresh onto the ice. The backhanded shovel pass split through Lowell's defense, all the way across the ice, finding the junior defenseman barreling down on net all alone in the high slot. Breazeale beat the Lowell netminder with a missile of a shot, handily putting the Black Bears up 3-1 with ten minutes left.

The Black Bears were buzzing in the third once again.

But Lowell did not quit. Now, with nothing to lose, the River Hawks came out and threw everything they had at the Black Bears net, and that proved to be a lot.

But there was Ostman to once again pick up his teammates, highlighted by an outrageous post-to-post stretching save with the end of his toe off a point-blank shot from the slot. It was Victor Ostman back to his best.

The game, now utterly void of the defensive chess battle seen during the first forty minutes of the contest, broke out into a back-and-forth barnburner that saw each team create plenty of grade-a scoring chances during end-to-end play.

A Lowell shot rang loudly off the crossbar, reminding Black Bear Nation that the River Hawks wouldn't go down without a screech. But only minutes later, at the other end, the Alfond's rafters rang louder.

On a night that saw plenty of Black Bear snipes light the lamp, Josh Nadeau may have provided Maine with their most blistering wrister. Josh, cutting laterally between the face-off circles, scooped up a broken-up centering pass before opening up his body into a shooting position and firing top-shelf cheddar to seal Maine's #20, his 20th goal of the season.

Yet, the River Hawks still refused to let up. Lowell, pissed off and with a point to prove, scraped and slashed their way to forcing a Maine failed breakout to result in Lowell halving their deficit with a minute and a half remaining.

But Maine would put the game to bed through a Harrison Scott empty netter. Scott played exceptionally well again tonight and deserved to score Maine's empty net to seal the deal for the Black Bears' fifteenth win of the season.

The River Hawks would go on to score again with seconds left on the clock, dampening Black Bear celebrations, But the late Lowell goal was nothing more than a message sent to their own locker room about the bounceback needed for the River Hawks to avoid the sweep on Saturday night.

The ending of a great contest had the feeling of unfinished business, as both sides would have plenty to be grumbling about.

Lowell unhappy with the scoreline and Maine frustrated with their performance.

The Black Bears did not play well.

Offensively, they struggled to generate much offense of substance for most of the game, and while they did score five goals, four came courtesy of an elite shooting touch that cannot be relied upon night in and night out to go the Black Bears' way. They once again struggled to bear down around the net and own the netfront with their presence.

Lowell, being the well-coached team they are, will make the necessary adjustments to not allow Maine to find the open ice they used to score again. The Black Bears need to start establishing themselves by the crease and score the dirty area goals.

Defensively, Maine looked vulnerable at times. If it wasn't for Ostman standing on his head on a couple of occasions, the scoreline could have looked a lot different. Lowell clearly showed they could flex their offensive muscle with their late third-period spurt and will look to be more opportunistic Saturday night.

But let's remember how young this Black Bear team is.

They have shown that they are starting to learn how to win games ugly even when they aren't fully clicking.

Their effort and will to win is dragging them over the line in games like this.

Their heart is the size of the State of Maine.

If this was just last year, Maine would have fallen behind and not been able to muster enough gumption to dig themselves out of the hole.

But not this Maine team; they are gritty as can be and are maturing with every game.

While it isn't pretty and nowhere near a polished product, they're gaining valuable experience that could prove crucial later in the season.

Winning is a hard habit to learn, but one that Maine is gaining with every passing game.