Wearing their business blues, Maine took care of Northeastern on Friday night at a packed Alfond Arena. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Stepping up in the face of adversity. Guts, character, and culture personified.

Although the Maine Black Bears returned from their bye-week rested and refocused, they also returned to the ice shorthanded and down to their bare bones.

Three prolific right-wingers were out of the lineup. Charlie Russell and Anthony Calafiore were nursing injuries, while Ross Mitton was forced to serve a one-game suspension. Compounding this with centerman Lynden Breen’s broken fibula, Head Coach Ben Barr and his staff had only eleven healthy forwards and twelve spots to fill.

Barr’s remedy to the forward conundrum was a Frankenstein-esque patchwork to his fourth line, which saw freshman Thomas Pichette lead the line while playing in only his eighth career college game. Next to Pichette was a defenseman playing forward, as Liam Lesakowski was the chosen D-man to navigate the uncharted waters. Meanwhile, junior Aidan Carney saw his first game action since March 8th, 2023.

Before the game, nobody in the Alfond knew exactly what to expect from this stopgap trio.

But they more than held their own.

They helped boost the Black Bears back into the win column during a crucially important Hockey East contest at home, snapping Maine’s short skid.

“They were positive when they were out there. They didn’t get a ton of ice, I probably could have given them more, but they did some really good things, almost scored a goal there in the first,” Barr said about the line’s impressive performance.

The Black Bears came into Friday with a next-man-up mentality and they left the Alfond with a 3-1 victory over the Northeastern Huskies.

Carney, the son of Maine alumnus and former NHL defenseman Keith, was the only Black Bear to not appear in any game last season, battling nagging injuries for most of the year.  Until Friday, he had watched every game this season from the stands.

Aidan Carney warming up before his first game since March 8th, 2023. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

He didn’t miss a beat in his return to action and his presence back in the lineup inspired his teammates.

“Awesome to have him back in the lineup, that just fired me up. That guy comes to the rink every day and absolutely grinds. He works his bag off, and it’s awesome to see him get into the lineup and do really well, too. [The fourth line] was very effective when they were out there. He’s just such a great human being, and he’s a great hockey player, you saw that tonight. He can be an impact player for us, and it was great seeing him out there,” David Breazeale said about Carney.

Lesakowski, fearlessly stepping up to a new role with his inspired play at forward, also energized the team.

“It’s awesome to see that. You can rally around that and we were able to do that tonight, that was great for us,” Breazeale said. “He did fantastic for us. That’s big time for a guy who’s never played forward before, stepping up. That’s just a testament to his character as a player, just doing whatever it takes to help the team.”

The mismatched line didn’t look out of place one bit and utilized Lesakowski and Carney’s 6’4” frames to play the stereotypical heavy-hitting fourth-line role to a tee. The trio’s crunching checks jolted juice into their teammates on the bench and reverberated noise around the packed Alfond crowd.

“There’s an identity with that line when you have two big guys and Pichette in the middle. Hopefully they can go out and bring a physical presence. That’s what you want out of your fourth line,” Barr said.

Simplifying leads to scoring

Maine’s offensive production, which was routinely putting up crooked numbers in the first half of the season, had dropped off a cliff since the team returned from Christmas, having not scored more than two non-empty net goals since the break. It wasn’t for lack of chances as the Black Bears continued to handsomely outshoot their opponents on many nights. Nonetheless, they looked offensively challenged in putting the biscuit in the basket, missing the killer instinct at the netfront.

For the coaching staff, the only way out of this scoring rut, which had clearly gotten into the heads and hands of some of Maine’s most prolific scorers, was to get back to basics. Over the past two weeks in practice, Barr harped on the team's critical need to generate scoring chances through simplicity rather than elaboration.

As the season wears on and the opponent's defensive structures and systems sharpen and tighten, the Black Bears’ only way home down the stretch will be by delivering pucks to the net, screening the goaltender, deflecting shots, and crashing the net for rebounds.

The same tally goes on the scoreboard for a greasy goal as it does for one that’s featured in a highlight reel.

“That was definitely a focus. Shots from the point, forwards getting to the net, taking away the eyes [of the goaltender]. That was a huge focus this week,” Owen Fowler said.

All evening, when in their defensive zone, the Black Bears, no matter the angle or distance from the net, threw everything at Cameron Whitehead’s goal, lurking like vultures around the net, preying on rebounds.

Through the first period, Maine’s simplistic offensive approach had the Black Bears knocking on the door, yet frustratingly unable to convert on their grade-A chances past Whitehead and ‘pop the pimple’ as the Student Section so descriptively chanted.

Two golden scoring chances were handed to Thomas Feel on a silver platter in the first period, the first coming from a heavy Lesakowski shot that bounced off Whitehead and sat behind the goaltender in the blue paint, begging to be poked home. But Freel couldn’t get his stick on the puck in the ensuing goal crease melee. Nor could he execute on a Nicholas Niemo cross-ice feed to the back post just moments later.

Thomas Freel couldn’t pounce on a chance in the first period. (Photos: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

After the first frame, with Maine still held scoreless, Black Bear Nation wondered if they were seeing the same old script play out yet again.

But just a minute into the second, with Maine shorthanded on the penalty kill, Owen Fowler pressured a Huskies mispass from behind the net that Josh Nadeau then scooped up at the half-boards. Nadeau, following his coach's orders, instantly threw a harmless enough-looking floater on net, but directly onto the blade of Fower’s stick to be redirected into the back of the net, much to the Alfonders’ delight.

“Josh just kind of threw it to the net, and luckily, I was right there and tipped it. Honestly, I didn’t really know where it went, just knew it went in and was definitely happy,” Fowler said about his goal.

The age-old hockey trope: put pucks on the net, and good things happen, rang louder than ever.

However, a few minutes later, the Huskies would even things level when a Maine turnover at center ice allowed Northeastern’s Eli Sebastian to walk into the high slot and snap and snipe past Albin Boija for his first collegiate goal.

But the Black Bears didn’t lose their heads or stray from their gameplan. If anything, Maine bore down even more, responding to Northeastern’s equalizer with their best period of hockey in weeks. Maine’s bread-and-butter forecheck was snarling and tenacious, refusing to quit on the play and in their battles as the Black Bears began to stack shift after shift, hammering the Huskies for minutes on end.

“We dragged them into the cave the best we could and did not let up,” Fowler said.

With the pressure around Northeastern’s net reaching boiling point by the final moments of the second stanza, Maine’s countless minutes of relentless forechecking pressure eventually broke the Huskies’ dam. Nolan Renwick wrangled the puck from Northeastern control, spun up the wall, and found Frank Djursavic walking the blue line. Djurasevic whistled a shot through a jungle of traffic, off of Taylor Makar’s pants, and into the back of the net.

“It was an unreal forecheck by Renny; he helped scoop out the puck. A great move by Frank from the blueline. He got the shot through and it just ended up bouncing off me. It was great to get pucks to the net, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Makar explained.

With two games to his name on Friday, Taylor Makar has now scored three goals in his last two games. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Both of Maine’s goals, one shorthanded and the other at even strength, were remarkably similar in nature. The Black Bears forecheck battering the puck into their control before quickly moving it back up the wall and putting it directly on net for a deflected shot.

Back to basics, it was textbook, fundamental hockey.

“We could still be better at that, but yeah, that’s how goals are scored right now. Every goal is like that, that’s just the way it is. It was good to get two of them that way tonight, but we’re going to have to get more. We’re going to have to find a way to get more than two most nights,” Barr said of his team’s offensive approach.

Character closing it out on the kill

Up 2-1 heading into the third period on home ice, it was a position Maine had been in and failed in plenty of times before this season. Their struggles extending the lead and their falters in staying composed in the final minutes in order to drag themselves over the finish line had been their biggest flaw this season, including just last time out against UConn.

The Black Bears were more than ready to get their closing-time monkey off their back and prove to themselves that they could put these demons to bed. Their third period wasn’t by any means a work of art, but Maine gutted it out and willed themselves to victory through sheer heart and effort.

“We went into that second intermission, and we talked about, ‘hey, let’s prove that we can close it out here,’ and it felt really good at the end of the game,” Makar said.  “We’re trying to prove something, that we can hold on to these games when we’re in the lead in that third period and really close it out, so that was nice to do.”

As if the Black Bears weren’t facing enough adversity with their bare-bones lineup, questionable refereeing decisions handed Northeastern three power plays in the first ten minutes of the third period. The final one was a particularly soft hooking call on Freel that had Barr red in the face with steam blowing out his ears screaming at the referees.

“I probably was losing my mind a little bit more than normal, I probably lost my composure a little bit there, it was 5-1 [in penalties] at that point or whatever, and I didn’t think it was a 5-1 game, but I need to watch this game back, and I could be wrong,” Barr admitted.

But while their head coach may have lost their composure, Maine did not. With their backs against the wall, instead of feeling hard done by, they gallantly rose to the challenge in the face of adversity.

“That’s a testament to our culture and our character as a team. We love those moments; we thrive in those moments,” Breazeale said.

Although Northeastern’s power play entered the weekend with the second-lowest scoring percentage in college hockey (11.3%), the Huskies' man-advantage units this season have always moved the puck well, their high stick skills being able to play in tight spaces, and their terrific vision able to pick out an inch-perfect pass.

In the lead-up to this weekend, Maine was well aware of the dangers Northeastern’s PP possessed, especially with their own struggles recently on the penalty kill. Of their 11 goals conceded since the turn of the New Year, four of them have come shorthanded, with the PK only killing 70.6% of their kills successfully during this time.

On Friday night, however, Maine’s PK closed up shop, scoring shorthanded and killing all five penalties. Barr credits Assistant Coach Alfie Michaud, who coaches the penalty kill, for the marked improvement and success.

“The penalty kill was outstanding in the third. Those situations at the end of games, power plays in crucial situations against us, have been a problem. Alfie did a great job these past couple of weeks getting those guys ready, and Albin made the saves he had to make, and it was a real positive for us tonight,” Barr said. “We got through it, and the guys battled hard in that third period, killing three penalties in a row. That’s gutsy, so really proud of the guys.”

During Northeastern’s power play, the Huskies cycled the puck in the Maine defensive zone for minutes at a time, but the Black Bears PK kept their structure and for the most part, forced Northeastern’s chances to the outside. During Northeastern’s 10 minutes on the man-advantage Friday night, Maine held them to only three shots on goal.

“Just pressuring them, we did a lot of detailed things in the two weeks off. We were watching video on the PK for a long time. Coach Alfie, he’s run the PK for a long time, so we trust him, and he did a great job letting us know what we had to do,” Makar explained.

Breazeale also credits the assured role of their phenomenal netminder, Albin Boija, in Maine’s lock-down defense Friday night.

“They have a really skilled power play, so I thought we did a good job. Obviously, we gave them a few chances, but it’s nice that we have the best goalie in the country back there to bail you out when you do make mistakes. We’re just going to keep improving on it, but obviously, that’s a good stepping stone for us,” Breazeale said.

Albin Boija and the PK did a gutsy job of killing three penalties in the third period alone. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Earlier in the season, down in Boston, Maine gave Northeastern countless odd-man rushes and partial breakaways. On Friday evening, however, they rarely gave the Huskies much on the rush. They kept bodies above the puck, absorbing the attack, rotating well during well-timed defensive pinches, and playing clean and efficiently through the neutral zone.

“They are a super fast, skilled team. Every chance they get, they’re going to turn it up the ice and play against you fast, so a big emphasis for us this week was for us defensemen keeping the play in front of you, make reads on our pinches, be smart about it. We’d rather play a 2-on-2 comeback in the zone than chase a 2-0n-1. I thought we did a better job at that tonight, just trying to play mature championship hockey,” Breazeale explained.

Maine wasn’t able to get the third non-empty net goal they have been searching for since Christmas, but Makar sealed the deal in the final minute with a long-range shot into the vacant cage.

Maine’s victory was by no means perfect, but it didn’t need to be. With the surrounding injury situation, suspension of Mitton, as well as spending most of the third period on the PK, the Black Bears overcame enormous adversity to get the job done.

“That’s just a culture win for us. I feel like that just defines what we are as a team,” Breazeale gushed.

Taylor Makar celebrates his game-clinching empty-net goal with the Balcony overhead. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

That’s the kind of win it’s going to take as Maine pushes for the playoffs.

“When you go down the stretch of the season, I think that’s what kind of wins games down the line. Relying on our character and our culture inside that room,” Flower said.

The Black Bears have an off day on Saturday before going right back at it and facing the Massachusetts Minutemen on Sunday afternoon. UMass defeated Merrimack on Friday down in Amherst.  They’ve now quietly put together a four-game win streak and will certainly be traveling to Orono full of confidence.

But this is Black Bear country. Maine’s dressing room is overflowing with guts, and they just showed us that they are up for the fight.