Amidst whiteout conditions, Bananas stares down the UNH Wildcats before Saturday’s opening face-off. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

We got five, you got two.

A sliding door moment that shouldn’t be overlooked in all the excitement of the Maine Black Bears’ 5-2 Border Battle victory over the New Hampshire Wildcats came late in the second period on Saturday night.

The Wildcats had just roared to two goals in five minutes, with a Ryan Conmy power play one-timed rocket and a Kristaps Skraistins fortuitously deflected floater combining to snatch the lead away from the Black Bears in the blink of an eye.

A bloop and a blast to put the visitors into a 2-1 lead that sucked the life out of a sold-out Alfond Arena.

Things could have easily gone from bad to worse for the Black Bears when New Hampshire’s best-skilled forward, Conmy, got behind the Maine defense, staring down Albin Boija all alone on a breakaway for a chance to score his second of the night, 15th of the season, and extend UNH’s lead to two.

But Albin did what Albin does best, stonewalling Conmy to keep the Maine deficit to one, allowing his team to retreat to the dressing room hanging on by a thread, but only down a goal.

“That would have changed the game. He does that every night; he’s been fantastic,” Head Coach Ben Barr said about Boija’s game-saving stop.

Surviving the second

Maine didn’t deserve anything in Friday night’s tie,  but they still managed to steal two points. In almost every aspect, they were second-best to the dominant Wildcats. The Black Bears were out-competed, out-detailed, out-checked, and out-shot, continuing a three-game trend where everything looked extremely difficult and cumbersome for them.

So the Alfond Faithful were upbeat and hopeful after a strong Maine response in Saturday’s first period, which saw the Black Bears’ offense create nearly as many shots on Jared Whale’s goal (13) than they had managed to muster through an entire three periods the night before (14).

Entirely unlike Friday, the Black Bears’ forecheck was heavy, punishing, and willing; the defensemen's pinches down the wall were well-timed and effective; passes were precise; and the breakout was clean and quick at efficiently getting Maine up ice.

But everything that Maine managed to do well during the first period was back to looking like an immense struggle during the second. The Black Bears couldn’t move through the zones with any reliability, coughed up the puck on simple plays, were kept running around in their defensive zone, and overall, looked extremely lethargic.

A Brandon Holt shot from above the left faceoff circle that may have deflected off a Wildcat body in front of the net did manage to flip off the underside of the crossbar to put Maine into a 1-0 lead. Other than that, nothing went right for the Black Bears in the second period, with the performance looking more like Friday’s disaster than Saturday’s hopeful first frame.

“The end of the second period was gross. We were just beating ourselves with penalties and fumbling pucks with nobody on us,” Barr said.

Arguably the most frustrating period of the season, Maine’s bench could be seen exasperatedly arguing with each other while the Alfond crowd groaned with irritation. Composure was lost, and heads were going.

“I was really disappointed between the periods, and I probably lost my composure a little bit between the second and the third,” Barr admitted.

So Boija’s one-on-one save that allowed Maine to survive the second, reassess, and regroup was not only game-changing but potentially season-changing as the Black Bears that came out for the third period played perhaps their best frame of hockey in two months.

It was a night and day difference from the middle period.

“The third period was arguably our best period in the second half here,” Barr said.

The Alfond was a chaotic cauldron on Saturday, with jeers raining down on the UNH huddle before the game. (Photo: Dmitri Chambers)

Third period explosion

The Black Bears that took to the ice in the final frame were the best version of themselves: connected, hungry, full of fight and fire, determined to pull themselves out from their rut through sheer will and heart.

“Just keep working, it’s going to come, the chances are going to come, and it finally came in the third,” Josh Nadeau said about the team’s message to each other in the second intermission.

Maine was snarling and full of bite. They established themselves on the forecheck with ferocity and fury, hounding the Wildcats all over the ice, leaving them black and blue and sore all over.

“The reaction to [the second period] was good. Again, that’s a credit to the quality of people we have in that locker room. The last three games, we just haven’t been playing very well, so how they came back and played in that third period was really inspirational,” Barr said.

A huge reason for Maine’s turnaround was the ability to use their work ethic and identity to break through UNH’s stubborn and suffocating blueline defense, which hadn’t allowed the Black Bears to enter their offensive zone cleanly or with much efficiency whatsoever.

Maine struggled to get to their dump-and-chase game last weekend in Providence, too, as the Friars also ran a 1-2-2 neutral zone trap that bottled them up. That strategy kept them from gaining the redline and putting pucks in behind the opposition defense, forcing the Black Bears to the boards, where they were slowed down and smothered off the puck.

New Hampshire had similar success with their own version of the 1-2-2 trap for the first five periods of the weekend. According to Barr, Maine didn’t drastically change their game plan in the second intermission. He put the Black Bears’ increased success in getting through the neutral zone with speed and getting their forecheck firing down just to an increased willingness and work ethic.

“You can try to x and o it, but they do a great job of clogging it up and forcing you to dump it in, and you have to go get it, and that’s hard work getting in on the forecheck with more than one guy, and it got better as [the game] went along,” Barr explained. “You have to be willing to put it in with speed. You can bring a bunch of guys back, but for the one time it works, it may not work four times, and then you’re turning pucks over, and it’s negative momentum. So you just have to be willing to get the line, and hopefully, you have some speed entering the zone and go in and forecheck.”

“We just simplified. They’re a great team structurally, and they play hard, so keep pushing, work hard, and things happen,” Nadeau added.

The forecheck that their entire game relies on was fully firing for the first time in weeks, at last putting New Hampshire in the pressure cooker. Maine was back to playing Black Bear hockey, dragging the Wildcats into the cave and mugging them.

“In the third period we played great, our brand of hockey. We just outplayed them in every aspect of the game, I thought, in the third,” Sully Scholle said.

New Hampshire retaliated with a huge open-ice check on Nadeau, a high hit to the head that was led with an elbow.

However, the officials decided that the penalty was not worthy of a five-minute major but only a two-minute minor.

Josh Nadeau wasn’t happy about a high hit in the third period. But the headhunter sparked Nadeau, the Alfond, and Maine to an explosive four-goal eruption. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

The Alfond went absolutely ballistic with anger as passionate boos and jeers raining down on the ice.

All weekend long, the Wildcats had been targeting Nadeau with cross-checks after the whistles and slashes during the play.

The headhunter changed the game.

New Hampshire had poked the Bear, and the Alfond turned into a cauldron of intensity, a visceral and feral bear pit of ear-splitting noise.

It also lit the fire in Nadeau’s belly. After recovering from the cheapshot, he retaliated with arguably the best period of hockey in his collegiate career, his four third period points leading the charge for Maine’s comeback. It was the first time in the past two seasons in Hockey East play that a single player recorded four points in a single period.

“That was his best game in a long time. He had a little fire in him tonight,” Barr said about Nadeau.

In four home games against the Wildcats during his career, Nadeau has now recorded six goals and five assists.

A kitty cat killer.

Although the power play for the minor penalty was unsuccessful for the 28th time in a row, not having scored since January 11th at Lowell, it gave the Black Bears momentum and had the Wildcats on the run. According to Barr, the power play was massively improved this weekend and was no longer a detriment to the team.

“It was better this weekend. For a couple of games there, it was really stale, and our work ethic was horrible. The work ethic was better,” Barr said. “You’re looking for momentum; whether you’re scoring or not, you’re looking for momentum. It can’t be negative momentum, and we got positive momentum from it.”

Just seconds after the power play expired, that momentum lit a spark when Nadeau fed Frank Djurasevic up the half-boards, who rotated up to the blueline to move the UNH defense around before popping off a backhanded pass to Charlie Russell at the right-faceoff dot. Russell pulled out a nasty toe-drag release from his box of tricks, ripping the shot through a defending Wildcats’ wickets and over Whale’s glove.

Charlie Russell takes a leap on the glass after his game-tying goal got Maine’s third-period barrage started. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

“I saw that the defender’s legs were open, and I wanted to shoot through the screen. I tried to pull it into my body and then go against the grain, and luckily, it found the back of the net,” Russell said about his game-tying goal.

The Alfond, smelling Wildcat blood in the water, turned the volume up to eleven, and as a monsoon of hostile roars rained down on their bench, the Granite Staters shook in their skates.

On the ice, Maine, with their tails up, continued to pour on the pressure as the Black Bears blitzed the UNH net, crashing the crease in waves, searching for the go-ahead goal.

That tally would come with just over five minutes left in regulation when Bodie Nobes battled against the half-boards with UNH’s Marty Lavins. The puck squirted free from the scrum onto the pouncing stick of Nadeau, who strode towards the right faceoff dot, sucking three Wildcats towards him. Nadeau, with all the attention on him, fed a cross-crease pass on to the tape of Scholle. All alone in the slot, Scholle blasted home the go-ahead goal, sending Black Bear nation into ecstasy and shaking the old barn with the Alfonder’s battle cry.

“A great pass by Josh there; it was a really good play, and then I just finished it,” Scholle said. “[Nadeau] found me on the backdoor side.”

Scholle has had a snakebitten sophomore season until Saturday night, only scoring one goal during the campaign after recording seven last year. That tally came all the way back on October 26th at Northeastern.

Sully Scholle was fired up after scoring his first goal since October 26th. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

Scholle hasn’t had a consistent line to play with, having been moved all over the place this season, playing many different roles, including as Maine’s extra attacker on the fourth line Friday night. But trusting the process, Scholle had one of his most involved games of the season Saturday night. The goal was just the cherry on top.

“It feels great, just have to keep grinding and keep doing the right thing out there, being detailed and relentless, and then that stuff happens,” Scholle explained.

“I couldn’t be happier for Sully; he certainly earned it,” Russell said about his linemate.

Maine’s third line had a new-look Saturday night, with Barr opting to play Scholle and Russell together on the wings with Owen Fowler centering. Barr may have struck gold with this combination, as the trio seemed to get the best out of all of them, with Scholle and Russell’s skill and quick hands complimenting Fowler’s grittiness and motor.

“They’re both elite hockey players, they both think the game really well. They both have really good compete, so it’s easy playing with them, I give them a ton of credit,” Russell said about his linemates.

“We’re moving our feet pretty good out there, playing the right way,” Scholle added.

Barr explained that the undersized line can struggle in the defensive zone at times, but their innate goal-scoring ability compensates for this.

“They are a little hit-and-miss with some of the details because they are not big guys, and when we get into our zone, it’s a little bit helter-skelter, but they’re all good players, so when they go out and make plays, and they can score, that helps,” Barr explained.

With the Alfond still reverberating from Scholle’s goal, Maine’s barrage didn’t let up.  Just 12 seconds later, the Black Bears’ blitz lit the lamp again, even before the Naked Five had completed their celebratory lap around the rink.

“The floodgates opened there. It’s good for the team’s confidence,” Russell said.

The goal to give Maine a two-goal cushion came from Nadeau and Harrison Scott teaming up on the forecheck to batter a Wildcat off the puck behind the net. Nadeau poked the puck to Scott, who sent it into the slot where a lurking Thomas Freel backhanded it past Whale.

Black Bear Nation went into bedlam, and the Naked Five were off to the races once again. As Maine skated by the New Hampshire bench in celebration, a referee decided that Nadeau would be given an unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting. A bizarre call that seemed out of place with all the antics and emotions that were present all weekend.

“The ref, he thought I did something else. He didn’t make the right call,” Nadeau explained. “[Taunting] that’s what they said, but I just stared them down.”

Sent to the sin-bin, Nadeau was joined by Scott a minute later for a slashing call, forcing Maine to kill off a 5-0n-3 power play for 58 seconds while holding onto a two-goal lead late in the gameBut the Black Bears’ battened down the hatches and held the Wildcats to only one shot on Boija’s net during the 5-on-3, in many thanks to Maine’s bravery in blocking shots. Barr credited Renwick, Luke Antonacci, and David Breazeale, who were excellent in killing off the 5-on-3.

“I thought Renny did a great job, and Luke and David,” Barr said.

A clearance down ice just as Nadeau’s penalty expired sent the New Brunswicker free from the box. Still shorthanded, Whale retrieved the puck and looked to make a stretch pass up ice to catch the Black Bears’ on a line change. But Nadeau, seconds after his freedom, sneakily picked off the pass at the blueline and skated toward Whale, scrambling to get back into the net. With two Wildcats recovering, Nadeau was forced around the back of the cage but had enough control of the puck to wrap it around, sliding it under the netminder and into the back of the net.

Josh Nadeau, after assisting on all three third period goals, put the cherry on top with a shorthanded wraparound goal right out of the box. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

“The D played me well; he didn’t give me a lane to go to the net, so I went around, and it worked out,” Nadeau said.

Nadeau’s harpooning of the whale just about blew the roof off the storied old barn as the rafters shook and trembled with the mayhem of erupting ecstasy.

In just under ten minutes of thunderous hockey, the Black Bears’ explosive third period barrage broke Maine out of their two-month scoring rut. The team hadn’t scored more than three goals since December 8th’s 4-2 victory over Stonehill but got that monkey off their back in the most volcanic of fashions.

A breakout victory

In what could prove to be a breakout win for Maine’s season as the playoffs loom, the importance of the Black Bears’ getting five goals from five different goal scorers shouldn’t be lost.

If Maine is to compete for championships come springtime, the goal-scoring will need to continue in force. Boija and the backend have consistently held their end of the bargain this season, only having allowed more than three goals once since the turn of the New Year.

Defense wins championships, but goalscoring wins games, and if the Black Bears can continue to score three or four a night, Maine’s wagon might just become unstoppable.

With this victory, Maine stays tied with Boston College for first place in the Hockey East standings and is a whopping six points clear of third place Boston University and 11 points above fourth place Lowell, with all teams having the same amount of games played.

The Border Battle victory also locked up Maine’s place in the NCAA Tournament as, according to College Hockey News’ Pairwise Probability Matrix, there is no possible scenario that the Black Bears miss the big dance.

No sweeter time to break out of a rut than against New Hampshire.

With 8 out of 9 points taken from their southern neighbors this season, Maine has unquestionably claimed the Piscataqua River for the Pine Tree State.

Live free and be mauled by the Black Bears.

There’s nothing better than being a Mainer.