Seventh heaven.

I prefer Tom's of Maine over Colgate any day.

"New Year Bears Still Rollin'," read the backs of the Naked Five, who cheered on their Maine Black Bears to a battling 3-1 victory over the Colgate Raiders Friday night at Alfond Arena.

The Alfond Faithful, who braved a bitterly cold Orono evening, were rewarded for their support with a thrilling red-hot, black-and-blue clash that saw the Black Bears prevail victorious with their seventh win in a row.

Eager to get back inside the old barn and see their beloved Bears for the first time in over a month, the loyal Alfonders made sure to once again pack the house, minimizing the void left by the students' vocal absence and missing zealous presence while on winter break.

After two impressive performances at the Ledyard Bank Classic, which saw the Black Bears' team depth in particular shine, Maine slightly tweaked their lineup coming into Friday night. For the first time all season, the Black Bears used their extra skater slot for a forward instead of a defenseman, causing Liam Lesakowski to be scratched and allowing Parker Lindauer to be reinserted into the lineup.

More noticeable, however, was the swapping of one Swedish goaltender for another. Rookie Albin Boija was given the starting nod over veteran Victor Ostman, who was given the night off to rest, most likely in preparation for his Saturday start. Boija's only other starting gig was an impressive debut against UNH in early December. Confidence in the young goaltender was deservedly high amongst the Alfond crowd.

Standing in the way of the Black Bears' thirteenth win of the season were the burly Colgate Raiders.

Colgate, who left a sour taste in the mouth of the Black Bears after last season's win and tie against Maine, is a big, heavy, well-coached, well-structured side that defends tightly and is difficult to break down and create scoring chances against.

To combat the sturdy, defensive-minded Raiders — a type of team Maine has struggled with this year — Head Coach Ben Barr, on his pregame Keys to the game, wanted his side to simplify their game.

Understanding that the large-bodied Raiders would not give Maine the open ice to skillfully wheel and deal through to set up highlight reel goals, Barr instead wanted his team to focus on making the simple plays Colgate gives them. Trusting his team to play with an overwhelming edge and compete level would put the Black Bears in good stead for their superior skill to eventually overmatch Colgate.

Maine knew they could out-skill the visitors but had to out-battle them first.

Right from the opening puck drop, Colgate's intentions were clear. Big, strong, and always looking to get a piece of Black Bear.

The Raiders looked to physically impose themselves by battering the Bears, cleanly or uncleanly.

Within the first minutes of the contest, a cross-check in Brandon Chabrier's back crumpled the Maine defenseman awkwardly into the boards. The sophomore blueliner needed help limping off the ice, and while Chabrier would return immediately to the game, the tone from Colgate was clearly set. Hit everything that moves.

But these Black Bears are not afraid of being bruised.

Maine took the game to Colgate early on, embracing the physicality by smartly putting pucks into the corners where their forwards could out-pace the Raiders to the puck and out-scrap them during one-on-one battles.

Colgate, who may have come into the game rusty, not playing since December 2nd, were out-worked and out-battled by the Black Bears. Maine kept tremendous pressure on the Raiders for much of the first period, forcing Colgate into a defensive shell that Maine could take advantage of.

After winning the majority of puck battles in Maine's attacking zone, the Black Bears used their speed and skill to work the puck quickly but patiently around the Colgate zone, creating plenty of good scoring opportunities early on.

Five minutes in, Maine's hard work paid off. Supporting the play in Maine's o-zone, Josh Nadeau beat the Raiders to a loose puck in the high slot. Instantly spinning around, Josh telepathically found his brother, Bradly Nadeau, all alone in the low slot. Bradly opened his body into a shooting position before beating the Colgate netminder, Carter Gylander glove side to send Black Bear Nation into its first euphoric frenzy of the New Year.

The return of the Nadeau Show to Orono in 2024.

The early goal put Colgate on their heels as the majority of the rest of the frame was spent in the Raiders' end.

When in the Black Bears' offensive zone, Colgate was determined to keep Maine to the perimeter, clogging up the center of the ice, hoping to keep the Maine barrage from penetrating into the most dangerous shooting areas. But the Black Bears, taking the options they were given, excelled at working the puck around the outside, cycling, and moving the big Colgate defenders around, and eventually freeing up open ice in more centered, prime real estate.

A vital reason the Black Bears were able to keep the puck in Colgate's end and the pressure on the Raiders was the terrific play from Maine's defensemen. Playing aggressively, Maine's d-men constantly jumped up into the play. Whether through vigorously pinching in from the points to keep the puck in the zone and in Maine's control or activating themselves by joining the rush and creating numerical overloads, the Black Bear blueliners brilliantly acquitted themselves on the Maine attack.

A Black Bear defender bursting in on a rush down ice or quietly slipping into the slot for a grade-a chance became commonplace Friday night and was a sign of Maine at their best.

No Maine defender epitomizes this skill better than co-captain David Breazeale. The junior is adept at reading the play and intelligently deciding when and how to step up from the point and make a play at the half-boards or jump up on an attack on a rush through neutral ice. His long stick reach and big body make it extremely difficult to breakout through him, while his quick feet make it equally challenging to breakout around him. Breazeale also possesses quick hands and a natural offensive instinct that makes him dangerous when slipping his way towards the net with the puck on his stick.

A complete defender.

Obviously, a defenseman jumping up into the attack is risky as it leaves the team exposed at the back for a counterattack, but excellent poise with the puck from Maine's defenders allowed this high-risk, high-reward plan to pay dividends.

It is especially dangerous when defenders are holding the puck just inside the blue line as a slight miscue or blocked shot can quickly leave the attacking side on the wrong side of the puck with the previously defending team moving north to south in acres of space, in numbers, with plenty of speed. This means it is imperative that a team like Maine, who controls the puck in the O-zone so much, doesn't make mistakes while in this vulnerable area of the ice.

Poise and precision are critical.

While all of Maine's d-men are impressively poised with the puck on their sticks at the blue line, the defensive pairing of the two sophomore Brandons really encapsulates this skill. Brandon Chabrier and Brandon Holt can successfully stay calm while controlling the puck. Even when put under immense pressure and with nothing but open ice behind them, the two defensemen can utilize their strong lateral edge work and balance to skate their way out of trouble when walking the blue line. Staying poised and ensuring the puck gets through the swarm of oncoming bodies, reaching its intended target.

The aggressive Black Bear defense and hard-working forwards put Maine up on the scoresheet going into the first intermission, with all the momentum as well.

Colgate must have shaken their cobwebs during the break, as the Raiders came out looking like a completely different team in the second. Colgate no longer looked big and slow; now, they looked big and fast.

The second period instantly began as a back-and-forth affair. Both teams, defending the nets farthest away from their respective benches, were forced to make long line changes, which both sides took advantage of. Each team looked to utilize stretch passes to break in behind while the other was in the midst of making the long skate to get fresh legs on and off.

It was a scramble of a second period which brought Colgate into the game. However, Maine did not help themselves out. The Black Bears spent the opening minutes of the second committing unforced puck errors, allowing the previously controlled contest dictated to Maine's liking to suddenly turn into a back-and-forth, out-of-control mayhem.

But as the Raiders were slowly taking momentum away from Maine, the Black Bears were given a boost from their underrated MVP of the season, Harrison Scott. The junior transfer from Bentley has centered a line with Donovan Houle and Thomas Freel, which has quickly supplemented Maine's more well-known star line with another dangerous attacking threat. This gives the Black Bears' already stacked offense a vicious one-two punch that can be counted on to score goals.

While the New Brunswick line of Lynden Breen and the Nadeau brothers generates their offense through skill and unworldly ESP, Houle, Freel, and Scott use their hard work, speed, strength, tenacity, and directness to generate a plethora of equally dangerous offensive production.

Five minutes into the second, Maine's second goal began with hard work down low from Houle and Freel. The duo out-battled their Raider counterparts before flashing the puck on net. Colgate was able to recover and began to break the puck out of their zone, but out of nowhere came Harrison Scott. On a dogged backcheck, he forced a turnover and stole the puck from right under the Raiders' nose. Still in Maine's o-zone, a quick burst of speed put Scott in away from the swarm of Colgate's maroon and white sweaters. Scott tried a centering pass to Houle, which was deflected behind the net. Still full of seemingly endless energy, Scott was the quickest to the loose puck where the San Jose native wrapped around the net on his backhand, throwing the puck into the crease. A deflection off a Colgate skate trickled the puck over the goalline, putting the Black Bears up by two.

The goal came out of nothing, created solely from hard work and not giving up on the play; Scott and his line's dynamic and tenacious work was on full display for all of the Alfond to enjoy.

It was a goal created by a lunch-pail mentality. Show up, work hard, and do your job. While the Black Bears are blessed with a sheer abundance of skill, this play perfectly sums up Maine's team identity, which has proven incredibly successful this season.

The goal further lifted Black Bear's spirits but failed to dampen the Raiders' effort.

Colgate fought back dauntlessly.

The ringing of rubber on iron from a Colgate shot echoed around the barn and quickly reminded Maine fans that there was still a long way to go, as Colgate was only looking better as the game progressed.

The Raiders, perhaps now with nothing to lose and forced out of their shell, started to forecheck and attack with more purpose. More precise with their breakout passes, Colgate began to find success in breaking past Maine's pinching defenseman and creating chances off the rush. Utilizing little one-two passes off stationary Raiders at the boards, Colgate began to cut through Maine's defense with more regularity and threat.

But each time the Alfond held its collective breath, Albin Boija put himself in the right position to make big save after big save. The freshman looks to have composure and calmness well beyond his experience as if the Black Bear netminder has been here, done that a million times at this level before.

While it is still a far stretch to compare this Black Bears goalie tandem to the '93 team's duo of Garth Snow and Mike Dunham, the trust and ability in this modern pair of Swedish netminders could be a massive game-changer for Maine this season. Not only does it allow each other to stay fresh and rested, especially down the stretch during the gauntlet of back-to-back league games the Black Bears will soon encounter. But it creates a culture of healthy competition between the two, challenging each other to constantly improve and play at their best.

Albin Boo-yuh!

With just under a minute left in the middle frame, a faceoff in Colgate's end after a Raiders' icing led to another ex-Penticton Vee lighting the lamp for the Black Bears. Freshman defenseman Ryan Hopkins played the past two seasons with the Nadeau brothers in Penticton, British Columbia. Lynden Breen, who excelled at the faceoff dot Friday night, won the draw, sweeping the puck back to Hopkins at the point. The Nova Scotia native instinctively rifled a shot on net that grazed the inside of the post. Giving the freshman his first collegiate goal and once again sending the Alfond into a happy frenzy.

While Colgate entered the second intermission playing well, the late goal was a dagger to the Raiders' hearts. They played strongly but were rewarded with an even bigger hole from which to dig themselves out of.

Pissed off and with a chip on their shoulder, Colgate came out flying into Maine, checking with a ferocity and chippiness I don't think Maine had yet faced this season. The third period opened with a whirlwind of back-and-forth chances for both teams. Boija came up big early on, absorbing a breakaway chance during a maelstrom of shots from both sides.

Early in the period, the Black Bears found the same terrific zone time with probing puck cycling, as seen in the first. Created from a pestering Black Bear forecheck that generated dangerous shots from turnovers, Maine's attack looked as threatening as it had all night.

As the minutes wore on, the game turned scrappier than ever. Plenty of checks in the numbers and high elbows from the Raiders had the Black Bears banged up, but determined to not let the increased physicality break them.

Halfway through the final period, with Maine in the driver's seat and increasingly gaining more and more momentum, a high hit on Luke Antonacci sent the Maine blueliner to the ice, unmoving. The hit that the officials deemed clean halted the game for a few minutes. Seeing the defender lying motionless on the ice was a scary sight, but it was relieving to see Antonacci get up under his own power. Remain in the game, not missing a shift.

However, the explosive hit completely drained Maine of all the momentum they had gained as the Black Bears looked flat for the next couple of minutes, clearly shaken by the play.

It had blown the wind out of their sails.

A Maine penalty a few minutes later put the Raiders on the power play. Down by three with ten minutes to go, Colgate's coaching staff made the gutsy call to pull their goalie while on the power play, essentially making it a six-on-three for Colgate. Almost immediately on the advantage, a nicely worked set of quick passes set up a Colgate one-timer, which rocketed past Boija, giving the Raiders hope and sending the Alfond into a nervous murmur.

The rest of the contest exploded into a hard-hitting, chippy affair. Maine answered Colgate's physicality with some of the biggest Black Bear bodies stepping up. Donovan Houle and Ben Poisson nailed Raiders to their backsides with clean, bone-clattering open-ice hits that re-energized the Black Bears on and off the ice.

Plenty of chirping and after the whistle acknowledgments were exchanged between the two sides soon thereafter. But Maine, so disciplined in these extracurriculars, never retaliated to being cheap-shotted, always keeping their heads and staying cool.

The final minutes ticked away, with Maine looking the more likely to score next. Unfortunatley, Maine once again failed to score on the empty net, a pattern becoming increasingly more concerning. Luckily, their inability to put the nail in the Colgate coffin did not come back to bite them.

The final horn sounded, and the Black Bears joyously celebrated their hard-fought win with their rookie goaltender, who stepped up tonight.

The chippiness of the third period foreshadows what is to be expected Saturday night. An even more fiercely contested, brutally physical encounter that will surely see plenty of fireworks. The Black Bears must keep their heads up and on a swivel.

Maine will also need an equal, if not more, hard-working effort if they are to look for the series sweep.

At times, the Black Bears shot themselves in the foot, trying too hard to make the perfect, more difficult play instead of the simple, safe play. While Colgate could not capitalize on this, Maine cannot rely on this pattern repeating.

One thing is for sure: we will see a better Colgate on Saturday.

Much of the first period and the beginning of the third saw Maine back to their overwhelming, grinding, relentlessly attacking best. However, they could never wrangle complete control, manage the game, and put together a complete sixty minutes.

If Maine's success is to continue into Saturday night and the remainder of the season, a more complete, mature performance will be needed.

But it certainly wasn’t a bad result for an "off-night," right?

Eight would be great….