The Black Bears and Pioneers gave the sold-out Alfond crowd a night to remember Saturday evening. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Some wins just feel bigger.

The Maine Black Bears' 2-1 victory over the Denver Pioneers Saturday night at a sold-out Alfond Arena felt like just that.

Monumental, massive, momentous. Maine had it all.

And then, some.

“I thought it was an inspirational effort from our team tonight,” Head Coach Ben Barr said after the game.

It felt so much more significant than just your ordinary run-of-the-mill victory in early January. Not because it ended Maine’s two-game losing skid. Not because it was against a top-ten opponent and the defending National Champions. 

The win felt so incredibly consequential and galvanizing to Maine’s season, not just because it ended in victory but because the Black Bears’ performance was so remarkably heroic.

After falling in a heartbreaker during the final seconds of Friday night’s contest, Saturday’s game could have gone two vastly different ways for the Black Bears.

“That was one of those games, after last night, that could go one way or another, and it went the right way as far as the reaction and the response to it,” Barr said. 

Instead of coming out devastated and deflated, Maine was driven and determined as the Black Bears put together one of their most complete performances of the season. In every area they’ve stumbled in this season, they rose above and passed with flying colors.

“That can be a demoralizing game, but it wasn’t, which was a good sign,” Barr said. “That’s a credit to our leaders, David Breazeale and Harrison Scott, Freeler, Holter, all of those guys, Renny. Those guys, they had the [team] ready.”

In the face of adversity, the Black Bears stood as sturdy as the granite coast and as tall as Mount Katahdin.

“There’s a lot of character in that room, a ton of character in that room. Is the character good enough to get us where we want to go? That’s the million-dollar question that we’re trying to answer, and for a couple of weeks, it hasn’t been good enough. Tonight it was, but we still have to keep pushing,” Barr said.

Alfond Arena was packed to the rafters as both teams lined up for Saturday night's national anthem before puck drop. (Photo: Annie Chadwick – The Morning Sentential)

Cashing in on crashing the net

It wasn’t that Maine played poorly on Friday night, far from it. But when facing off with the nation’s best, like Denver, the importance of doing all the little things well is magnified exponentially.

An obvious area for improvement from Friday was in being more clinical in their execution in front of each net, owning the dirty areas of the ice, the battleground where tight games between evenly matched teams are won and lost. 

On Friday, the Black Bears couldn’t cash in on their bounty of clear-cut, golden opportunities with the puck ping-ponging around the goal crease. It doesn’t matter how well you play if you can’t put the biscuit in the basket.

Through the first 19:58 of the opening period on Saturday, Black Bear Nation wondered if their team had been put under some type of voodoo curse. No matter how much Maine dominated the play, how many shots they threw on net, the puck seemed to have a mind of its own, cruelly bouncing every which way but into the back of the net.

Denver’s goaltender Matt Davis was excellent again, but he also spilled his fair share of juicy rebounds as the Black Bears hacked and whacked away to no avail. To make matters worse, the Pioneers were able to capitalize on one of their rare scoring opportunities late in the first period. A backdoor power play goal on the doorstep by Sam Harris was beautifully assisted with a cross-crease pass by the nation’s leading assist-getter Jack Devine, his 26th apple of the season.

Through 19:58 played, the Black Bears were outshooting the Pioneers in total shots 35-10 and by a shots on goal margin of 21-5. Yet they were frustratingly behind on the scoreboard 1-0.

The Black Bears could not buy themselves a goal, as there seemed to be a magnetic force around the Denver net designed to repulse Maine’s efforts. It would have been natural for the Black Bears to feel down on their luck, but not these Maine mentality monsters.

“It would have been an easy game to feel sorry for yourselves [after Denver’s go-ahead goal]. But no one is feeling sorry for us, and we weren’t either,” Barr said.

The first period was as ill-tempered as they come, looking more akin to a rivalry game against BU or UNH rather than an opponent the Black Bears rarely lock horns with.

Much of this feisty affair had to do with the Black Bears being much more committed when crashing the net, always making sure to stop right in the blue paint when Davis froze the puck, angering him and the Denver defense to no end. 

Friday night, the Black Bears would skate past Davis and into the corner after the whistle. Saturday, however, Maine made sure to let the Denver netminder know what kind of cologne they were wearing as Maine got into the grill and under the skin of the Pioneers, welcoming the ensuing punches that Denver threw and relishing the resulting Black Bear power plays that followed.

“I thought we stopped [in front of the net better] — and we drew penalties because of it. Your opponent doesn’t like it when you stop in the net front; their goalie doesn’t like it, so sometimes it frustrates the other team when you just keep doing it and doing it. So I thought we did a better job at that tonight,” Barr explained.

The cheap shots from the Pioneers enraged the Alfond Faithful, who were as loud and as raucous as ever. Their roars reverberated around the storied old barn, cranking the intensity level on the ice up to eleven amidst the incandescent fury.

Don’t poke the Bear.

So in the dying seconds of the first frame, with the capacity crowd in an ear-splitting, ferocious frenzy, another crazed net-mouth scramble ensued. The puck eventually squirted out from the cluster in the crease onto Brandon Chabrier's stick. The Black Bear defensemen threw it on net where it jumbled around the blue paint once more, refusing to cross the line.

Brandon Chabrier throws a shot on goal that is initially saved by Denver’s Matt Davis. (Photo: Annie Chadwick - The Morning Centeniel)

If that shot was at any other rink or even at the other end of the Alfond, it wouldn’t have ever crept its way into the back of the net. No chance.

But because it was under the boisterous Balcony, the Mainiaks, with all their fingers and toes crossed, peering down on the action, Black Bear Nation was able to suck the puck over the goal line through sheer will, prayers, and most importantly, a precious poke in the melee coming from Harrison Scott.

“We had to crowbar it in there. We haven’t been good enough at that in the last two games that we lost,” Barr said.

“Right there, whatever it takes. Those pucks, you got to put it in like your life’s on the line and we did that. That was awesome for us, getting momentum and getting on the board at the end of the first, going into the second,” Scott said. “We were all hacking and whacking, whatever it took to put it in the net.”

A mad scramble in front of Denver’s net eventually leads to Harrison Scott’s goal in the first period. (Photo Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Maine provided the spark, and the Alfond created the flame, one that refused to be put out for the remainder of the game, engulfing the old barn in ear-splitting noise for the entire evening.

“That’s huge for momentum, going into the first period break, and for us to get that one, I think it just carried over to the rest of the game,” David Breazeale said.

The Black Bears dominated Denver for the remainder of the game, outshooting the Pioneers 75-43 in terms of total shots and 46-21 in shots on goal by the time the contest ended.

Yet Maine, with all their control and superiority over the game, still needed one more big moment to drag themselves into the deserved lead.

In the biggest moments, when they are needed the most, the team’s leaders have to step up, take the game by the scruff of the neck, and shine the brightest.

Nobody has been better at answering that call this season than Mr. Captain-clutch himself, David Breazeale.

Maine’s senior defenseman was Barr’s first-ever recruit, a last-minute walk-on late in the summer before Barr’s first season at Maine. Through hard work and sheer determination, Breazeale not only earned himself a scholarship but has made himself into one of the better defensemen in Hockey East. The heart and soul of this Maine team, Breazeale, is an even better person off the ice than the terrific player he is on it.

“There probably is something about karma because he does everything for us. Not only on the ice, but he’s just one of those guys that is impossible not to root for with everything that he does. So when he scores a goal like that — I’m happy for him; he cares so much,” Barr said.

The native of Michigan has had his fair share of ups and downs this season, but has always stood the tallest in the game’s most crucial moments.

Four years ago, his first career goal was an overtime winner to earn Barr his first win as Maine Head Coach. Earlier this season, Breazeale was also the hero in securing a Black Bear overtime win against Quinnipiac.

So early in the third period, when the Black Bear co-Captain carried the puck into the Denver end, handing it off to Scott, before getting it back on his tape all alone in front of the net, Black Bear Nation was already on their feet in anticipation.

“Scotty made a great play on 4-on-4, so there was a little bit more space out there; I dropped it to Scotty, and he’s always going to find a way to get it to the net. Scotty found a way to get it there, and it somehow ended up in the back of the net, so we’re pumped about that. I think [Scott’s shot] was blocked by me. I think it went off my stick and fell down in front of me, and then I was able to put it in,” Breazeale recalled.

Harrison Scott celebrates with game-winning goalscorer David Breazeale. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

The Alfond let out a mighty Maine cheer that could have been heard from Kittery to Madawaska, but it was Breazeale’s roar that was probably the loudest in the entire building. The celebration was so explosive that it knocked a panel of glass off its strapping behind the Denver bench.

“I was just putting pucks on net; good things happen when you put pucks on net. Breaze was leading the rush, leading the play. I’m so happy we potted that one. That just gave us momentum going the rest of the way. We just knew after that that it was our game,” Scott said.

All Bears a-go

The most crucial aspect of Maine’s game that Barr needed to improve upon from Friday’s loss was an elevated performance from every single one of his players. On Friday, a couple of panicked errors killed Maine's momentum and allowed the Pioneers to get their tails up and capitalize on the mistakes. When playing a team as elite as Denver, you have to play damn-near perfectly from every single player in the lineup; there can’t be any dead weight. 

The Black Bears did just that on Saturday, all of them.

“We had all four lines going all night, and that’s what you need, especially getting deeper into the year; that’s just a winning culture, what we pride ourselves on. We’re so happy about that,” Scott said.

Maine’s forward lines remained unchanged from the third period on Friday, with Josh Nadeau staying alongside Thomas Freel and Scott, while Ross Mitton was back with linemates Taylor Makar and Nolan Renwick.

Every single one of the forwards raised their game and then some. Freel and Scott were everywhere all at once. Nadeau had his most scoring chances created in a long while, only narrowly missing a goal because of diligent defensive Denver sticks in his’ shooting lane deflecting his shots out of play.

Back together again, Mitton, Makar, and Renwick all had their best games in recent weeks after cooling down mid-fall and being broken apart. Makar was especially tremendous; his ability and knack in keeping the puck in Maine’s offensive zone with crunching hits against the foreboards is a sight to behold.

The third line of Charlie Russell, Oskar Komarov, and Sully Scholle were dynamic and dangerous, always demanding the puck and doing something productive with it. It may have been Russell’s best game of the year.

The new-look fourth line with Owen Fowler, Nicholas Niemo, and Anthony Calafiore played a much-improved Saturday night, truly finding their gel together playing with scintillating intensity; they hounded the Pioneers all over the ice.

But Maine’s biggest drop-off this season has come from the last few defensive spots in the lineup, a factor that significantly halted the Black Bears on Friday.

Luke Antonacci and Grayson Arnott both struggled with the puck on their stick and in battles against the boards on Friday On Saturday, they were replaced by Liam Lesakowski and Jack Dalton, who immediately found their groove, never putting a foot wrong all night and logging important minutes for the team as well as making big-time plays.

“I think the big difference between last night and tonight was that each guy was going; each guy put out there we could trust to make a heavy and hard play. That’s what we need out of a championship team, so it’s an awesome effort from all of us, and it’s going to take that every single weekend from here on out,” Breazeale said.

Dalton hit the post in the second period, as did Maine’s extra-defensemen Bodie Nobes, who hadn’t played all season until this weekend and showed Barr and the coaching staff that he deserves to see more ice time.. Both Dalton and Nobes were millimeters away from their first collegiate goals, neither ever looking afraid or daunted with the puck on their tape.

“[Bodie Nobes] played outstanding; he hasn’t played in a long time, and he comes in and gives you that kind of an effort. He’s a phenomenal kid, and he probably deserves more than he’s gotten here,” Barr said.

Breazeale and Frank Djurasevic were immense on both sides of the puck and Brandon Holt was his usual reliable, unwavering self, all of them able to raise even their already lofty levels of play. But it was Brandon Chabrier, Maine’s veteran defenseman, who stood out among the rest.

Chabrier did everything Maine needed him to do. He blocked countless shots, used his elite skating skill and edge work to scamper back and negate any Denver rushes with seemingly effortless ease, moved the puck with purpose and poise, as well as played with a noteworthy physical edge. It was by far his best game of the season.

“[Chabrier] was fantastic. He was flying all over the ice; he’s best when he’s using his feet and playing physical, and he did a great job of that tonight. I was fortunate to be out there with him a lot. That’s what we need out of him every single night, and he’s a special player, so we were looking forward to him continuing that the rest of the second half,” Breazeale said.

To a man, each and every one of the Black Bears on the ice took their game to dizzyingly new heights, pushing their individual and collective limits.

It was spectacular. It was awe-inspiring. It was brave.

A sum bigger than their individual parts, from top-to-bottom, it was collectively Maine’s best performance of the season.

Moving forward, this has to become a staple for this team. They can’t rely on the few top players to win them the game; it takes an all-group effort and a championship-caliber mentality and ability from each and every one of them representing the scripted Maine on the front of their sweaters. The Maine machine needs all of its parts working perfectly in collective harmony. Saturday night was like watching a well-oiled machine purring, the players the pistons, each rotating in for each other, keeping the engine firing in steady harmony, and the team’s foot on the gas.

Defensive masterclass

Coming into the weekend, Denver’s offense was tied with the best goals-per-game average in the nation, scoring, on average, four goals per game. In two games this weekend, the Black Bears held them to only three total goals, with just one coming at even-strength.

The Pioneers, who showed their speed and skill Friday night with numerous breakaways and odd-man rushes, excel when playing in open ice. This is especially true in the center of the ice, away from the boards, where they’re able to get their feet moving and build up a head of steam.

But on Saturday, Maine brilliantly kept the game chewed up against the boards, in the corners, and far away from Denver’s net. The Black Bears were tenacious in their battles, refusing to be beaten.  They put the Pioneers to the sword, who could not match Maine’s manic intensity, and free up the game in open ice enough.

“I thought we protected the middle of the ice. They are a highly skilled team, and they like to enter through the middle of the ice and that’s dangerous. I thought, for the most part, we did a good job with that. Always had a good F-3 and were good through the neutral zone,” Barr explained.

Maine’s forechecking system, which is their bread-and-butter, generally looks to have the first two forwards who are in on the forecheck (F-1 and F-2) play the puck and the puck carrier aggressively, relying on the last forward into the play (F-3) to stay high in the offensive zone. This enables F-3 to clog up the center of the ice in the event the opposition breaks out past F-1 and F-2, keeping the play to the outside where the defensemen can pinch on the play and use the boards like another defenseman. The Black Bears kept numbers on the right side of the puck and, unlike Friday night, didn’t allow Denver many odd-man rushes on quick developing plays.

And with Maine holding on to a one-goal lead for most of the third period, it cannot be emphasized enough how impressive their play was while they were ahead.

They didn’t just batten down the hatches and protect what they had; they bravely and confidently kept the puck moving downhill, looking to kill the game with their third goal. Maine managed the puck maturely, rolled back if they didn’t like what was ahead of them, and looked like a completely different team than the one that withered with the lead at Boston College just a few months ago. Another fantastic improvement for this team, which has allowed their fair share of late goals this season, including just a night prior.

“Yeah, that was a huge step for us. We couldn’t close it out against BC and against BU, so to do that against a top-ten team is a really big step for us. We’re proud of the effort, but it’s going to take even more from us from here on out,” Breazeale said.

Without seeing much of the puck all night, Albin Boija went long stretches without feeling the puck before being forced to make a crucial save. A week ago in Portland, he was in a similar position; his team was controlling the puck possession, keeping it far away from him and his goal. But in a matter of moments, he would be called into action, he struggled to come in from the cold to make the big stop, allowing four goals on just 19 shots.

Barr credited Boija’s sharpness Saturday night to his puck-playing ability when Denver would dump the puck into the zone. The Swedish netminder was proactive, negating the Pioneer’s dump and chase while also initiating Maine’s breakout quickly and fluidly.

“He got out and played a lot of pucks when they dumped it in. His touches behind the net were really good tonight, so he kept himself mentally [engaged], he struggled last weekend down in Portland with that, and it just makes you a little jumpy. His touches with the puck were really good, and that’s probably the way to keep himself mentally into it,” Barr explained.

With the capacity crowd counting down the final seconds on the clock, the rafters shook to the Alfonder's applause, capping what was a monumental victory and an even more significant performance from their beloved Black Bears.

The Black Bears pour onto the ice to celebrate with Albin Boija after the final horn. (Photo Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

It felt like the type of win that can ignite a season, springboarding the team into yet another gear.

While there is still a long way to go and many more challenges to face, Black Bear Nation got its first look at a championship-caliber team on Saturday. Can that display be replicated night in and night out? That will be a whole other fish to fry.

But if they’ve done it once, they can do it again.

What a game.

What a weekend.

What a building.

What a performance.

What a team

The Maine Black Bears are on a mission.

Flanked by assistant coaches Alfie Michaud and Jason Fortier, Ben Bar makes sure to soak in the moment as the coaches leave the ice. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)