Alfond Arena is expected to be filled to the rafters once again this weekend, with Maine taking on Northeastern and UMass. (Photo: Sophia Santamaria – UMaine Athletics)

The midseason bye week may have come at the perfect time for the Maine Black Bears, following a frustrating weekend at home against Connecticut, where Maine only picked up two of a possible six points from the series.

The team may have wanted to hop right back in the saddle and immediately put the disappointing weekend in the rearview mirror, but the extra time off could prove crucial for Maine in the long run.

The weekend off, which one hopes will be their last until early April, not only allowed the Black Bears time to rest their black and blue bodies. It also enabled Maine to hit the mental reset button and use the extra practice time to iron out kinks in their game that have been noticeable since the team returned from Christmas break.

“For me, I’d sooner play hockey games than that, but it is what it is. We got a lot of work in as a team on our systems, special teams, and hopefully, we come out of [the bye week] with a really strong showing against Northeastern,” Assistant Coach Alfie Michaud said on the Black Bear Coaches Show.

The Friday night loss and Saturday evening tie with UConn highlighted the vulnerabilities and shortcomings the Black Bears have dealt with since returning from break.

The goalscoring has dried up, closing out games cleanly has continued to be a problem, and Maine’s special teams have cooled off.

Scoring shortcomings

In Maine’s 16 games during the first half of the season, the Black Bears scored more than two non-empty net goals in a game 11 times, producing a 4.0 goals-per-game average that was tied for the best in the country. In their seven games since Christmas, they haven’t scored more than two non-empty net goals in a game once, dropping their G/G average to 3.4, which is now ninth-best in the nation.

The goalscoring woes certainly haven’t been due to a lack of chances created, as Maine has yet to be outshot in any game this season and, more often than not, has completely dominated the shots-on-goal tally. Their 36.0 shots-on-goal-per-game average is third-best in all of college hockey.

“Statistically and analytically, we’re doing all of the things that would lead you to think that we should be winning the game, but we’re not winning the game. There’s got to be a little bit of a mentality shift there when it comes to putting the puck in the net, capitalizing on breakaways, 2-on-1s. We’ve had plenty of those that haven’t gone in the back of the net,” Head Coach Ben Barr said.

The Black Bears seem to be doing everything well in the lead-up to generating their chances; they just can’t take them.

“We do so many good things to get into those high-scoring areas, but that last piece of putting the puck in the net needs to come around, especially since Christmas we’ve tallied back a little bit on our goal scoring,” Senior forward Nolan Renwick said after Tuesday’s practice.

“We’re obviously going through some things right now, kind of trying to find it a little bit offensively. Everyday you see some guys are gripping it and trying to do too much and that kind of stuff,” Barr added.

According to Barr, for the Black Bears to get back to being the offensive wagon they were in the first half of the season, Maine needs to get back to basics in terms of shot creation and net-front presence.

“We haven’t been able to just play really simple when we need to score. Shot, rebound, shot, rebound hasn’t been our thing, and that’s usually what you need to do when you’re struggling to score: shot, screen, tip, rebound those types of goals. We have not been great at scoring those types of goals. There’s a willingness to do that and we have to add that to our way of playing in tight games. And we have scored some goals like that, Harrison Scott scores goals like that, Thomas Freel is great at the netfront, but it has to be something that we can all do when we’re not scoring the tic-tac-toe backdoor rush goals,” Barr explained.

It does seem that some of the Black Bears’ elite shooters have been overthinking things. They are clearly frustrated by their scoring slumps, trying too hard to make too perfect a play, and holding on to the puck a second too long. Keeping things simple will be key, and the only way out of the rut is through endless repetition in practice, which has been a key focus for the team during their extra time on the ice these past two weeks.

“You can’t talk your way out of that, you just have to grind your way out of that,” Barr said.

While Maine has been working on sharpening their finishing over the past two weeks, the Black Bears won’t know if they’ve been able to get over the mental scoring hurdle until they face live opposition in the pressure-packed game situation on Friday night.

“I think going into practice is different. You can score a bunch of goals in practice, but once the lights get bright, you don’t want to be gripping your stick or anything. I think the biggest thing is that you don’t want to focus on scoring goals. We’re a process-oriented team, and we want to be focusing on what it’s going to take to get us to those scoring opportunities, and then when you get that opportunity, like I said, it just has to be put into the net,” Renwick said.

But Renwick is confident that his teammates can re-find their scoring touch, and once they do, the floodgates will open.

“We’ve scored in the first half of the year, we know we can score, we’ve got good hockey players on this team, and like we’ve said, it hasn’t been because of a shortage of chances, it’s just about that last piece of putting the puck in the net and I think it’s going to happen this weekend,” Renwick predicted.

Shaky special teams

Maine’s excellence on special teams in the first half of the season was a significant reason for the Black Bears’ red-hot start. At one point in the Fall, it seemed as though Maine was scoring everytime the power play unit took to the ice while the penalty kill was equally assured and reliable. But since Christmas, both the power play and penalty kill have stumbled, unable to replicate their first-half success.

At the winter break, the power play was scoring at a rate of 28.2%, while the PK was killing off 87% of Maine’s penalties. It would have been nearly impossible for Maine to continue the same special team’s success rate, especially on the power play, but the drop-off has made a noticeable difference in terms of wins and losses. And according to Barr, this makes even more of a difference as the season rolls along, the games become tighter, and the stakes higher.

“The special teams kind of make or break a lot of games the closer the games get down the stretch. It might not matter as much in the first-half, but every game that’s a one-goal game or a tie game, those tend to be the things that kind of turn the game one way or the other as the season goes along. And every game we play here down the stretch is going to be tight,” Barr explained.

Since Christmas, Maine’s power play has gone cold, only scoring 3 times in 22 chances, just a 13.6% success rate. Similar to the Black Bears’ even-strength scoring troubles, it has not been due to a lack of chances but rather to a lack of ruthless execution and tenacity in front of the net.

Meanwhile, the PK’s successful kill percentage has dropped off to 70.6%.

“[The penalty kill has] been only okay, probably below okay, since we came back from Christmas break. This break was probably good in that we’re trying to correct some things and tighten it up,” said Michaud, who coaches the penalty kill.

Falling at the final hurdle

This season, Maine’s biggest weakness has been their inability to close out tight games. Both BU and UConn scored last-minute goals to tie the game, while Denver’s dagger at the death defeated the Black Bears.

When holding on to a lead or a tie game, the Black Bears tended to hit the panic button at the most inopportune moments, unable to keep their composure and cleanly close out the contest. The opponent’s goals have usually come from exploiting Maine’s mental errors. Breakdowns after lost faceoffs, failure to cover shooting lanes and close down the points, as well as leaving opponents unattended at the netfront, it’s all been a frustrating trend, but one from which Black Bear Nation hopes important lessons can be learned.

“In those moments where the game is on the line, there ends up being a little bit of a panic for whatever reason, it’s happened a couple of times, and a lot of times it’s off faceoffs; it’s just a one or two-second situation and unfortunately for us, it’s cost us three goals at the end of games, two ties and a loss. It’s frustrating, but it’s also a really good teaching moment for our players. It’s not the effort, it’s not their desire to win or anything like that it’s, hey, if it’s 6-on-4, can we keep our composure, if it’s 6-on-5, whatever the case may be, can we keep our composure and get through it, the last part of the game,” Barr said.

The bye week allowed Maine a mental reset, as well as extra time to focus on closing out tight games cleanly and with composure.

“It’s not just the players, obviously, it’s us as a staff and how much time we allot to it. We have a week to kind of spend a little more time on these situations that maybe haven’t been as sharp in the second half so far,” Barr said.

Bare bones

Although the bye week allowed the Black Bears to rest up before starting their grueling final regular season stretch, the injury bug has hit Maine’s forwards.

After leaving the game on Friday night, Charlie Russell has been out with an upper-body injury. He didn’t return to practice until Monday, and it will most likely be a game-time decision as to whether he can play this weekend.

“He’s a day-by-day, he’s an upper body. There’s so many bumps and bruises this time of the year, so really it becomes, can the player tolerate and push through the pain that they might have if it’s not something that’s a surgical thing or whatever, which it’s not,” Barr said.

Anthony Calafiore is also out with a lower-body injury that could keep him out of the lineup for a while, although his timetable is not clear. Calafiore is not expected to be able to play this weekend.

Meanwhile, a third right-winger will miss Friday’s game as Ross Mitton received a one-game suspension for his major penalty on Saturday night against UConn.

“I can’t say if it’s the right call, but it’s not going to be something that you spend a lot of time on, we have to move on. Nothing I say to [Brian Murphy, the Supervisor of Hockey East Officials] is going to change his mind on it. You respect the decision, and you move on,” Barr said.

With potentially three right-wingers on top of centerman Lynden Breen out of Friday’s game against Northeastern, all of a sudden, the Black Bears find themselves down to their bare bones in terms of forward options.

Junior forward Aidan Carney hasn’t played since his Freshman season and will most likely be forced into the lineup this weekend, even if Russell is deemed healthy enough to play. If Russell can’t take to the ice on Friday, the Black Bears coaching staff may be in a real pickle. They’ll be completely out of healthy forward options and may need to ask a defenseman to fill in as the 12th forward in the lineup. Defenseman Bodie Nobes played one game as a fourth-line right-winger last season at UNH and potentially could be called to do so again.

“We’re just going to have that next man up mentality; whoever has the chance to put on the jersey on Friday, they’ll be ready to go and compete with everything they’ve got,” Renwick said.

If Nobes does suit up as a forward on Friday, this would force Luke Antonacci or Grayson Arnott, both of whom have been in Barr’s doghouse since the Denver series, or Brian Morse, a freshman defenseman who hasn’t played yet this season, to dress as Maine’s extra defenseman.

There is one silver lining in injury news as Breen’s rehabilitation after his injury at RPI and the subsequent surgery is reportedly going much better than expected. 

“He is actually getting very close to skating, which is great. But it’s not like you can just put him on the ice after the injury he suffered, it might take him a little bit more time once you get him on the ice. But he’s been around; he’s been working extremely hard. I think he’s ahead of what we had anticipated today. That doesn’t mean that there can’t be a setback. It’s not a guarantee that he’s going to be playing in three weeks, but he’s optimistic, and we’re optimistic to see him getting close to putting those skates back on,” Barr updated.

Northeastern preview

With Maine facing two different teams this weekend due to a scheduling quirk, as well as an off day in between games, the Black Bears are taking it one game at a time. Instead of trying to gameplan for two completely different opponents this week, Maine has its focus set exclusively on Friday’s date with Northeastern before crunching a week’s worth of preparation for Sunday’s matinee against Massachusetts into the off-day on Saturday.

“It’s a little bit different preparation where you have to prepare for one team coming in on Friday, but you don’t want to look too far ahead towards Sunday, so we’ll prepare for Northeastern, and then we’ll shift our focus to UMass after that,” Renwick said.

The Black Bears know Northeastern well, having played the Huskies twice already this season, a 4-1 victory and a 2-2 tie and shootout win to get the Matthews Arena monkey off their back. Although Maine took 5 out of 6 points from that weekend in October, Northeastern gave the Black Bears everything they could handle. That was especially true during the Friday game, in which Maine’s mistakes in the neutral zone led to countless Huskies’ breakaways and odd-man rushes that were only thwarted by Albin Boija’s ability to stand on his head the entire game.

With a 9-11-13 record, Northeastern so far is having an off year compared to their usual high standard, but the Huskies have always been a thorn in the Black Bears' side, even at the Alfond, where they dominated Maine 4-0 last season to hand the Black Bears their only regulation loss at home.

“I’ve always seen them as rivals over my four years here. We’ve obviously always had good games. They had the upper hand early on in the first couple of years, but we’ve come a long way and have made it more of a rivalry. They’re always fun to play; they always have good teams and highly skilled players. They compete hard, we’ve had some good battles,” Renwick said.

Their potent offensive threat is led by one of the best-producing lines in college hockey consisting of the dangerous three-headed monster #15 Jack Williams (12g-17a-29pts), #13 Dylan Hrycowian (12g-12a-24pts) and #12 Cam Lund (11g-15a-26pts). Meanwhile, Quinnipiac transfer #29 Christophe Tellier (3g-10a-13pts) and offensive minded defenseman #22 Vinny Borgesi (5g-15a-15 pts) also arm the Huskies with scoring threats.

With their high stick skills and blistering transition speed through the neutral zone, Northeastern can pounce on Maine mistakes in the blink of an eye. The Black Bears will need to be very careful with the puck in the neutral zone and at their offensive blueline.  Their pinches down the wall must be perfectly timed, and they cannot miss hits, as this allows the Huskies too many odd-man rushes and free offense. Any looseness with the puck and Northeastern surely will be flying north to south in a heartbeat.

“They’re obviously a highly skilled team and they can make you pay on 2-on-1s, breakaways, they can score goals, so we have to be sharp defensively,” Charlie Russell said.

Although the Huskies’ power play is the second-worst in all of college hockey in terms of production (11.3%), their terrific stick skills and ability to move the puck will keep Maine’s PK on its toes.

“They’ve got high end skill, Lund, Williams can shoot it. I always thought they were a top power play. I was actually surprised by the number. I watched their last ten games on the PP. They move it well; they’ve got a lot of really good sticks and high-end skill. They can make plays in small areas. I always feel that they’re much like a BU or BC, they only need one crack at it. Literally, you can dominate them, and then all of a sudden they have a breakaway, or they have a 2-on-1, and they don’t miss much, same if you break down on the penalty kill, they’ll make you pay for it,” Michaud warned.

Meanwhile, in net for Northeastern will be the always steady sophomore #39 Cameron Whitehead (2.64 GAA-0.914SV%), who has been solid for the Huskies this season.

UMass preview

After Friday’s test with the #23 team in the country, Maine’s attention will turn to their Sunday afternoon matchup with another Hockey East foe, the #18 Massachusetts Minutemen.

Like Northeastern, UMass has had an up-and-down season, currently sitting with a record of 13-10-2. The Minutemen had a slow start to the season with losses to the likes of Rennselaer, Sacred Heart, Nebraska-Omaha, and twice to Vermont, but have also churned out impressive performances in victories over Providence, BU, and Northeastern.

Since the New Year, UMass has been outscoring their opponents 33-17 in the span leading up to this weekend. This has placed them as the 5th best team in goals-per-game average with 3.5, slightly above Maine’s 3.4 G/G. The Minutemen power play has also been exceptional this season, scoring at an outstanding rate of 30.1%, which ranks as the second-best PP in the nation.

UMass is rich in dangerous forward-scoring threats, with the third-highest point-getter in the country, #19 Cole O’Hara (14g-20a-34pts), leading their attack. Meanwhile, #16 Aydar Suniev (14g-13a-27pts), #10 Dans Locmelis (5g-19a-24pts), #9 Jack Musa (9g-11a-20pts), #17 Kenny Connors (3g-17a-20pts), and #11 Lucas Mercuri (8g-11a-19pts), together provide UMass with plenty of attacking talent.

In net for Massachusetts is another solid goaltender, #30 Michael Hrabel (2.38GAA-0.924SV%).

UMass always seems to catch fire down the stretch, and Maine’s three one-goal victories over Massachusetts late in the season last year preview what should be another tightly contested game.

For Maine senior forward Taylor Makar, this will mark the first time the Alberta native has played his former team since transferring to the Black Bears over the summer. This weekend,  as well as Maine’s final regular season weekend in Amherst, have been circled on Makar’s calendar in bright red ink.

“It’s going to be competitive for sure. You’re trying to prove something, but also, you’ve got friends out there that you really want to compete against; show them what you’ve done, how you’ve progressed. Those [games] are marked on my calendar for sure. But it’ll be a great experience,  I’ll just try and keep my head in the game and just try and play my game for those,” Makar explained.

Down the stretch, we go

With eleven games remaining in the regular season, it is crunch time for the Black Bears. The playoffs loom on the horizon, and they need to re-find their early season mojo. Ranked #4 in the Pairwise, Maine is in a prime position to return to the National Tournament, but they will need to sharpen their game substantially in order to get there.

It is unlikely that Maine will go undefeated down the stretch, and Black Bear Nation’s expectations should be tempered. There will be wins and there will be losses as only two of Maine’s remaining games come against a team outside the top-18 in the Pairwise. 

This final stretch will be the ultimate test for the Black Bears, the season-ending gauntlet that determines Maine’s positioning for the playoffs.  Every game from here on out will be an all-out battle.

“This is where you really see where you are; it’s the same for everybody, you see every week you just flip a coin with any game in our league right now; that’s just the way it is,” Barr said. “You have to look at it in perspective a little bit, and we want to win every game, so it’s disappointing when we don’t, but there’s going to be ebbs and flows, and for us, that’s no different.”

The real fun starts now.