This one hurts. No two cents about it.

Especially because it was to them. Anybody but them.

The Maine Black Bears weren't able to follow up their hollow Friday night shellacking with a bounce-back win. Once again, they fell to the New Hampshire Wildcats 5-2, being humiliatingly swept out of the Whittemore Center in Durham, NH, Saturday evening.

After being thoroughly outplayed in Friday's 6-2 loss, all aspects of their game, top-to-bottom, would need to be drastically improved. Significantly better puck management, an increased physical presence, and a more dynamic offensive display would be major points of improvement required after their worst performance of the season the night before.

Head Coach Ben Barr, looking to create a spark in his dressing room, radically shook up his roster Saturday. The first order of business was to rotate veteran Victor Ostman back between the pipes after Albin Boija got the start on Friday.

Next, he put the New Brunswick boys back together for the first time in a month. Hoping that Breen's harmony with the Nadeau brothers, which took the country by storm early in the season, could freshen up Maine's top scorers, who have cooled off as of late.

This change put Harrison Scott back between fellow power-forwards Thomas Freel and Donovan Houle. After giving a good account of themselves on Friday, Barr kept the Cole Hanson line intact with wingers Ben Poisson and Anthony Calafiore. The trio was a rare bright spot in the weekend's first game, contributing to both of Maine's goals.

The biggest surprise in Saturday's shakeup was on Nolan Renwick's fourth line. Reid Pabich and Félix Trudeau were scratched and replaced by Parker Lindauer and Bodie Nobes. Yes, Bodie Nobes, the defenseman was thrown into the right-wing position, presumably for his physical presence and defensive capability, which was significantly lacking the night before.

Wingers Nicholas Niemo and Sully Scholle remained out of the lineup once again. It is unknown if Scholle, who has had a bright past couple of months in his freshman season, is out injured or just a healthy scratch. Meanwhile, Niemo hasn't featured for the Black Bears since January 6th, but by all accounts, remains healthy.

The only change on the blueline saw Ryan Hopkins inserted for Jack Dalton, who, only a month into his collegiate career, showed his inexperience on Friday, struggling to keep up with the fast-paced Wildcats, getting himself caught out of position too often for Barr's liking.

After being pushed around far too easily and unable to establish themselves in Friday's loss, early on in Saturday's contest, the Black Bears showed great resolve, demonstrating the pushback needed.

This pushback on the ice was mirrored off the ice as well.

The couple thousand traveling Black Bear fans made their voices heard from the opening puck drop. Loud and proud chants of "Let's go Black Bears" rang out in enemy territory. Entire sections were packed with Mainiaks, creating significant pockets of blue amongst the whiteout. The not-quite-whited-out Whitt was drowned out by the vocal minority who could only muster a boo in an attempt to mute Maine's fans. This angered the quiet majority of home supporters, as a disappointing and quite honestly pathetic amount switched from cheering on their team to vocally and bordering on physically abusing the hordes of Mainers cheering on their beloved Black Bears.

On the ice, the jolted Black Bears, feeling the energy of their supporters, came out guns-a-blazin' from the opening puck drop. Seconds in, Donovan Houle rattled a Wildcat to the ice, sending a clear message: the Black Bears weren't going to get bullied two nights in a row.

Night and days better than Friday's sluggish play, Maine exploded out of the gates. The Black Bears, who were outskated by UNH in the neutral zone on Friday, kept up with them in Saturday's opening period.

Looking vastly more energetic and with a chip on their shoulder, Maine made sure to make their neutral zone presence known. They were diligent on the backcheck, clogging space between the bluelines and finishing every hit. The Black Bears, for the most part, were responsible defensively and much more stabilized, keeping UNH's pressure from being overly taxing and extended around Ostman's net, who cooly and calmly gobbled up anything that was thrown his way.

But Maine's best form of defense was their offense. Always looking to move the puck up ice away from their goal as simply and quickly as possible, get it deep, and keep it there two hundred feet away from Ostman's net.

In the first, much of the play was in Maine's attacking zone. The Black Bears' cleaner passing and puck-handling allowed them to gain the zone with speed through the neutral zone. This quickened pace gave Maine significantly improved attacking impetus as the Black Bears could either find holes to carry the puck through or jump in on their dump-ins with a more lively and suffocating forecheck.

On Friday, Maine was contained to throwing potshots on net, unable to work the puck into dangerous areas. But Saturday saw Maine with vastly improved zone presence and shooting with significant purpose. Stronger on their sticks, Maine won and supported the majority of puck-battles in the corner, getting it unstuck from the boards and worked around the point crisply. This Black Bear cycle opened up the Wildcat defense, allowing Maine to succeed in finding a quiet area in the slot for dangerous shooting chances.

This is precisely what allowed the Black Bears to jump out to an early lead in the first. After winning the puck back from a dump-and-chase, Houle, Bradly Nadeau, and Lynden Breen cycled the puck up to the point, where the two puck-moving defensemen Brandon Holt and Brandon Chabrier's quick movement at the point freed up Houle to receive a pass in the high slot. Donny Hockey, with UNH bodies, slow to converge, dusted off the puck before ripping it past Wildcat goaltender Jakob Hellsten's blocker to emphatically put the Black Bears up five minutes into the first.

The goal was created from all of the aspects that were missing in Maine's Friday performance. Not messing around with the puck on the breakout, taking it north-to-south through the zones, getting it deep, winning the puck battles, supporting the play, and cycling the puck with purpose, opening up holes in UNH's defensive structure.

With Houle's line leading the charge, the Black Bears were able to keep the early pressure on the Wildcats for much of the opening period. Top-to-bottom Maine played with greater energy and purpose, desperate to avoid being swept by their bitter rivals. Stronger on the puck and more explosive in board battles, Maine made sure to be significantly harder to play against, not letting UNH bend them to their will again.

Cole Hanson's line with wingers Ben Poisson and Anthony Calafiore worked well together on the forecheck. While Hanson and Calafiore aren't the biggest bodies on the ice, they never hesitate to bang away in the dirty areas. Meanwhile, Poisson, a college hockey veteran, knows exactly where to position himself to keep New Hampshire penned in if they manage to move the puck up the boards. The trio showcased impressive chemistry, fluidly rotating from forechecking positions to keep Maine's suffocating pressing structure intact and the pressure on New Hampshire.

Similar synergy was noticeable on the reassembled New Brunswick line. Both Nadeau brothers were significantly more involved in the game. On Friday, the brothers looked out of ideas at times, struggling to work the puck through the stubborn New Hampshire defense that choked their creativity and flare by throwing their bodies at them every time they entered the zone. But rejoined alongside Lynden Breen, the addition of another super-skilled forward seemed to instantly open up more possibilities with the puck as the trio found themselves in significantly more dangerous shooting areas, finding holes in New Hampshire's defense that seemingly weren't there the night before.

Overall, the Black Bears got back to basics well in the first period. Getting the puck out of their zone, not coughing it up in the neutral zone, and outworking the Wildcats after putting the puck down low. As the period wore on, the Black Bears grew in confidence in their game plan, no longer trying to force hopeful passes but rather displaying trust in their systems, making the simple play.

After being pushed around far too easily on Friday, it inspiring to see Maine put their noses to the grindstone and outbattle the Wildcats in the opening period. Everything in a hockey game is always predicated on which team can win the majority of the puck battles. Friday night, it was UNH, but Saturday's opening frame saw the Black Bears push back with great resolve, desperately winning the race to most loose pucks, out-fighting the Wildcats against the boards, and overall playing with more of an edge than New Hampshire.

The Black Bears were back to being extremely tough to play against. That needs to always be the first step in creating a winning dynamic.

While the first period's shot-on-goal totals saw New Hampshire with seven and Maine with twelve, the Black Bears' attempts were, for the most part, much more purposeful and dangerous, forcing Hellsten to make a couple of saves in quick succession. Meanwhile, the ones Ostman faced were mainly one-and-done looks that didn't seem to overly trouble the Swedish netminder, who looked assured and comfortable back between the pipes after four games out. Even deflected shots were reacted to by Ostman quickly and without much fuss, tracking the puck through traffic well and no longer looking like he was low on confidence, as he had in recent weeks. A massive positive.

The second period started positively, with Maine continuing to be on the front foot and generally dictating the game's proceedings to their liking.

But in an instant, things went south for the Black Bears south of the border.

Houle rocked a Wildcat to the ice with a high hit along the boards, upsetting the Wildcats on the ice and in the stands. After the officials gathered for a meeting and decided to review the hit, Houle's penalty was upgraded from a two-minute minor to a five-minute major for contact to the head, forcing Houle to the showers early.

It was a double blow for the Black Bears.

Not only were they to be man-disadvantaged for five minutes, but they lost their most influential player of the evening and the contest's only goal-scorer. It suddenly caused chaos to Maine's forward line combinations that already had a defenseman playing out of position, not to mention killing the Black Bears' momentum and bright front-footedness.

Two weeks ago, at Northeastern, Maine, they could not deal with a similar scenario after Ben Poisson was tossed from that game. It was to be the difference in the game as Northeastern went on to score three goals during that five-minute power play, pulling away from the Black Bears in the third period.

But on Saturday, Maine was determined not to let the extended penalty kill spiral the game out of control and break their will. The Black Bears defended excellently, sacrificing their bodies to block shots, repeatedly clearing the zone, and overall shutting down the Wildcat power play. The extended penalty kill would have given Maine a shot in the arm and all of the game's momentum, but cruelly, with just thirty seconds remaining in the Black Bear's dogged kill, a deflected shot bounced up in the air over Ostman and the hordes of bodies around him, landing in the blue paint behind and trickling ever so slowly over the goal-line.

The Black Bears were rewarded for their tireless effort with the unluckiest of puck luck, swinging the pendulum in New Hampshire's favor, where it would stay for the remainder of the evening.

The game-tying goal broke the game wide open. Both teams pushed the envelope up and down the ice, carving out rush chances and displaying their impressive team speed as the hockey game turned into a track meet.

Similar to Friday, once the Wildcats got their feet moving, the Black Bears had a tough time keeping up. Soon, it was New Hampshire beating Maine to loose pucks, especially at the point where the Black Bears' defensemen overcommitted on the pinch at the point, allowing New Hampshire's wingers to bang the puck out of the zone and into center ice. From here, UNH's neutral zone speed quickly and directly flew towards Ostman's net in great numbers.

Ostman was forced to come up with his biggest save of the night, swatting away a partial breakaway, narrowly keeping Maine's lead intact. The Black Bears, who controlled the game so well until the five-minute penalty, were now hanging on for dear life, desperate to escape back to the locker room for the second intermission, still tied.

But a Maine miscommunication on a Wildcat clearance proved to be a killer. The Black Bears, jamming away at a loose puck in UNH's crease, couldn't whack it past Hellsten, who steered the rebound chance toward the corner. New Hampshire's d-man was the first to the puck, flipping it off the glass. The puck squeezed through Grayson Arnott, trying to keep the play in Maine's offensive zone, which bounced kindly to a Wildcat forward moving through the neutral zone with a head of steam.

With Maine out of position, UNH's puck carrier was essentially on a one-on-one with David Breazeale. But a charging second Wildcat forward jumping into the play dragged Breazeale's focus to covering the passing option, allowing the shot to be taken uncontested from the face-off circle. It beat Ostman hard and low, giving the Wildcats the lead with just under a minute to go.

Goals at the beginning and end of a period are real momentum killers. Giving up a goal just after the intermission often completely throws the adjusted game plan talked about in the dressing room right out the window. Likewise, succeeding late in a period can sometimes completely change the message the coach was expecting to give during the break.

The Black Bears are usually dominant during the opening and closing minutes of a period, scoring a third of their goals on either side of the intermission this season. But this time, the late-period momentum boost fell the way of the Wildcats, who, after a slow first-period start, were comfortably in the driver's seat after two frames.

A Wildcat cheapshot after the buzzer sounded gave the Black Bears a power play to start the final period and a perfect opportunity to showcase their resilience and fight back.

But while Maine possessed the puck in the zone for most of the two minutes, UNH's collapsed defensive four-man-unit stifled the Black Bears' shooters. Maine couldn't move the Wildcats around and create open shooting lanes, routinely firing shots into New Hampshire bodies. These blocked shots not only proved successful in killing Maine's power play but ramped up the energy in the building and under the Wildcats' legs.

Unable to provide the pushback needed, frustrated and chasing the game, Maine's inexperienced and undermined their effort once again.

Playing out of position as a forward, Bodie Nobes' job was to provide the Black Bears with battering physicality on the forecheck. But Nobes took this too far. Racing with a scampering New Hampshire d-man to a loose puck in the corner, Nobes pushed the Wildcat in the back and spilled the unprotected Wildcat face-first into the boards. While Nobes only leaned into him, he did extend his arm right in the Wildcats' back.

To the horror of the Black Bear fans in attendance, the referees once again got together and decided to review the play. Like with Houle, Nobes' boarding call was upgraded to a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

Suddenly, the space on Maine's bench was looking rather sparse, with two players being ejected from the game.

Much of Maine's success this year has hindered on their front footed, in-your-face physical style, especially on the forecheck. So it's no surprise that penalties like this happen, especially as the season wears on, the games become tighter, and the need for a heavy physical tempo increases.

But there's a line.

While committing these types of infractions is a sign that the Black Bears are fighting tooth-and-nail, willing to do everything needed to win, they have not been successful in toeing the line between bruising physicality and undisciplined reckless abandon.

They keep crossing that line.

Inexperienced and undisciplined. They were their own worst enemy. The Bears kept biting themselves.

The Wildcats immediately took advantage of the five-minute New Hampshire powerplay. A hard pass from the point ricocheted off the boards behind Ostman directly onto the tape of a New Hampshire forward at the back post, slotting the puck past the netminder before he or any Maine teammates could react, giving UNH a 3-1 lead.

The Black Bears killed off the remaining four minutes of the penalty well, providing Maine with a slight pick-me-up midway through the final frame. Harrison Scott pulled the Black Bears back within one with plenty of time still on the clock, jamming home a rebound during a goal-mouth scramble.

But seconds later, Maine was their own worst enemy once again, this time gifting UNH a goal through sloppy puck management. Freshman defenseman Liam Lesakowski threw a sloppy d-to-d pass on his backhand. The pass was easily cut off by a UNH forward who charged down on goal. The rush chance didn't lead to a goal, but as the play developed with New Hampshire circling Maine's net, a one-timer in the slot put the Wildcats once again up by two.

Their own worst enemy. Time and again.

Maine handed New Hampshire this win on a silver platter.

From here on out, for the remaining ten minutes or so of the game, with the Black Bears having nothing to lose, they turned their game up a gear, angrily flying into every white jersey they could find, and furiously threw everything they had on the net. Similar to Friday night's pushback, it was some of the best hockey they played all night. But it was too little too late as New Hampshire put the final nail in Maine's coffin with a fifth goal stemming, of course, from a failed Maine clearance.

As the final horn sounded and the Wildcats celebrated joyously, the Black Bears sat on the bench, heads bowed and bodies slumped, looking totally and utterly dejected.

It's the Black Bears' first three-game losing skid of the season, coming at the worst time of the season and to the most unbearable opponents.

We all know the Black Bears haven't been good enough lately. That's clear. But let's try to find some positives amongst all the disappointment.

It was really positive to see Maine on both nights fight to the bitter end, never giving up, playing with pride for the name on the front of the front of their sweater, and playing for each other. At no time, no matter what the scoreline, did Maine ever let up. They have the hearts of Black Bears.

And we can't forget how tough Maine is to play against. Just look at the reactions of the UNH players wildly leaping on the glass in front of their student section after the handshakes like they just won the Stanley Cup. That's because they know how difficult it is to play against Maine, how much of a challenge the Black Bears present.

UNH has a little sibling dynamic with Maine for a reason; they are obsessed with us because they wish they were us.

Once again, it should not be forgotten that the Black Bears were their own worst enemy.

They beat themselves. That's a variable they can control. It's something they can fix.

We've seen it all now. We've seen Maine's ceiling, and we've seen their floor. It can only be up from here, right?

While this team is young and inexperienced, for the most part, this type of situation is one they've lived through before.

Last season, after a surging January and February, everything capitulated at the worst possible time. They were swept at home in the last regular season weekend before falling apart to Vermont in the playoffs. While that memory is unpleasant, it may also prove to be significantly helpful in not repeating last year's mistakes.

They will have learned from that, and they will learn from this.

Ideally, Maine can enact sweet revenge on New Hampshire come playoff time. How perfect would it be to end their season that way?

But for now, onto Northeastern.

Gut check time.

Believe in the Black Bears.