Black Bear Nation packed the Alfond for Sunday’s matinee matchup with the Massachusetts Minutemen. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics

It looked like it was going to happen again.

With 28.6 seconds left on the clock, the Maine Black Bears were leading the Massachusetts Minutemen 3-2 at Alfond Arena on Sunday afternoon.

On three separate occasions at home this season, the Black Bears have fallen apart during the game's dying embers, giving up a game-tying or go-ahead goal in the final seconds.

With the Minutemen’s goaltender pulled and outmanning Maine 6-5, when the puck trickled through the slot, deflected directly onto the stick of UMass’ Dans Locmelis with a gaping net at which to shoot, everybody in the rink waited for the twine to ripple, the red-light to signal, and the game to be sent to overtime.

Everybody except for Albin Big Time Boija. 

“I think it ricocheted off of someone right at the netfront or something and went right to [Locmelis]. We thought, okay, there’s a goal,” Head Coach Ben Barr said.

The Great Wall of Boija lunged to his left, sticking out his arm at full, excruciating stretch. As if his glove was a puck magnet, Boija flashed the leather, plucking the puck midair off the goal line for one of the best saves you’ll ever see.

“My heart just dropped, and then my jaw dropped,” Brandon Holt said.

Boija better go into hiding because the authorities will be after him for committing highway robbery.

“All of a sudden, it pops onto this guy’s stick, and somehow, I got my glove there,” Boija said. “I don’t know how.”

Glove save and a beauty.

The snag of the season, the catch of the century.

“It was one of the best saves I’ve ever seen, especially at that time in the game, with their goalie [pulled],” Barr remarked. “It was unbelievable.

Unbelievable indeed, it took everyone in the Alfond a second or two to react as brains struggled to process the sheer absurdity their eyes had just witnessed.

“The best save I’ve ever seen in college hockey,” UMass Head Coach Greg Carvel said.

Locmelis and the Minutemen could only put their heads in their hands in agony while the Black Bears raised them over their heads in equal disbelief.

Thirty seconds later, the final horn sounded, and the Black Bears poured over the boards to celebrate a perfect six Hockey East points weekend with their heroic, holy goalie.

The Black Bears celebrate Sundays victory with their heroic goaltender. (Photo: Patience Hanley - UMaine Athletics)

Fast and physical vs. fast and physical

While Boija’s late heroics will be long remembered in Alfond lore, the entire contest from the opening puck drop was an enthralling, entertaining, edge-of-your-seat battle between teams coached by a Minuteman mentor and his former apprentice.

Massachusetts, polled as the 20th-best team in the country, possesses the dangerous one-two combo of being both fast and physical, the same chip-on-your-shoulder mentality that Maine plays with. The Alfond learned firsthand what happens when two heavyweight steam engines collide on Sunday afternoon.

“Good game, a hard-fought battle. They came in here and were a hard team to play against, but we gutted it out,” Holt said.

Right from the jump, the Minutemen showed their energetic spirit, hammering the Black Bears against the boards as much as any opponent has done at the Alfond this season.

As they just about always do, the Black Bears battered back with equal muscle as the joust became a rock-em-sock-em fistfight between two heavy and intense teams.

Maine generated the better scoring chances early on, while UMass outhit the Black Bears for much of the opening stanza. But as has often been the case, Maine couldn’t capitalize, with Oskar Komarov’s effort pinging off the far goal post being one of the best of more than a few high-quality chances unrealized early in the game. 

“I thought it was a really good game. I thought that we had a really good first period, and then they got better as the game went on, as we knew they would,” Barr said.

Massachusetts completely ripped the momentum away from the Black Bears after a Maine icing forced a pack of panting Bears to stay on the ice, unable to complete a line change. Out of gas, Maine lost the faceoff draw and couldn’t clear their zone, freeing up UMass’ Kenny Connors to burst away from Owen Fowler into the slot, receiving an outrageously crafty no-look pass from behind the net by Ryan Lautenbach. With a step on Fowler, Connors poked the puck through Boija’s wickets to give the visitors the lead.

The Massachusetts goal swung the momentum in the Minutemen’s favor.

“This rink, small rink, you’d better come in here ready to play like them, and I thought we did for a few stretches. I didn’t like the start; it took a while for us to get our feet going,” Carvel said.

Scoring early, scoring late

A bone-crunching hit by Thomas Freel at center ice began to turn the tide back towards Maine as Lauttenbach retaliated with an undisciplined roughing penalty in front of the benches. Although the Black Bears’ didn’t score on the man advantage, the power play re-sparked Maine’s momentum, and the Black Bears ended the first period as they began it, generating the better scoring looks.

In the last minute of the opening frame and with the Black Bears’ tails up, Frank Djurasevic received a pass, drove down the half-boards, and rotated the puck back up top to Holt. With all five Minutemen below the tops of the circles, Holt had acres of space to take a few strides in from the point and time to pick his corner. Holt’s shot ripped through a forest of bodies and sticks, zinging off the inside of the post and into the back of the net — the sharp echo of ringing iron immediately drowned out by the Alfonders’ roar.

The Black Bears surround Brandon Holt to celebrate the junior’s game-tying goal late in the first period. (Photo: Patience Hanley)

“There was a ton of traffic; our forwards were working pretty well so they were all strong, and I had tons of time out there, so I just shifted one, and it found its way in,” Holt explained. “My first thought is to get my head up and take a couple of steps, and then if I have a lane, get it to the net because that’s where our forwards are going. If I don’t have a lane, I look for my partner or look back down low.”

This season, the Black Bears have had a knack for scoring early and late in periods, with 36% of their tallies coming in the first two or last two minutes of a period. Scoring late in a frame can galvanize a team heading into the dressing room, bringing confidence and positivity to the intermission consultation. Meanwhile, scoring early in a stanza gives the goal-tallying team momentum and a boost to carry them through the rest of the frame.

“It seems like we get them in the last minute a lot, here [at home] especially,” Barr said. “It just gives you confidence; it puts you on a high note. The first and last minute of a period is a point of emphasis.”

Maine got this jolt to start the second period when the Black Bears were able to stack two strong 4-on-4 shifts of offensive zone time, getting fresh bodies on the ice while maintaining possession in the O-zone. With more juice in the Black Bears’ legs and their forecheck hemming the visitors in, the Minutemen failed to clear the zone, thwarted by a tenaciously terrific and dogged David Breazeale stick that kept the play inside the blueline. With UMass drained and out of position, Breazeale drove to the net, creating a 2-on-1 with Josh Nadeau at the back post. Maine’s co-Captain, with his head pointed toward goaltender Michael Hrabel, got the netminder to commit to him before sweeping the puck across the slot for Nadeau to tap Maine into the lead.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a backdoor like that in four years. That was a great play. I don’t think anyone expected him to make it, and it was right on Josh’s tape, so I’m sure Josh is happy about that one,” Barr said.

The goal was Nadeau’s sixth of the year and first since December 7th. Playing a more simplified game, Nadeau had his most physical and scrappy weekend of the season, in which he registered three points as a reward for his endlessly hard-working play, especially against the boards where he found a way to win his one-on-one battles more often than not. It was very reminiscent of the Josh Nadeau that turned it on to great success at the end of last season. Nadeau has also become a mainstay on the Black Bears’ penalty kill, which has been so shutdown of late.

The scrappy seesaw battle between two of the highest-scoring offenses in the country swung back to Massachusetts’ favor a few minutes after Nadeau’s goal when an absolutely awful line change by Maine allowed the Minutemen to stretch the play up ice, creating a 3-on-1 around Boija’s net.

Boija did his best to negate the triangle of Minutemen, but a quick feed from Lucas Mercuri over to Cole O’Hara and the resulting one-timer popped off a Black Bear stick and into the net.

Makar the Mainer

Playing against his former team of three seasons, Taylor Makar seemed to enjoy the unique challenge of scrapping it out with some of his closest friends, exchanging a couple of chirping pleasantries and chicken wings at center ice.

It seemed written in the stars that it would be the Minuteman turned Black Bear that would score the game-winner.

Makar’s goal came midway through the second when it was once again Brandon Holt doing what he does best: walking the blueline and finding a hole to get the puck through traffic and on net. Holt’s seeing-eye wrister clanked off of Oskar Komorov’s stick at the netfront, then bounced through the slot where Makar tapped it in from close range.

“I just chucked it on net. I think it hit the forward’s stick right in front of me and bounced to Komo, so pretty lucky, but we’ll take it,” Holt said.

Makar raced away, pulling out the Superman celebration showcasing the iconic scripted Maine he proudly displays on his chest.

Taylor Makar celebrates his goal by highlighting the scripted Maine he proudly wears on his chest. (Photo: Madelyn Lussier - UMaine Athletics)

Makar said the celebration was not motivated by ill will toward his former school but rather by a fondness for his newly adopted home state.

“I love all the guys on [UMass’] team; it’s a well-coached team, but I just kind of happened to do it, nothing bad or anything. I just love Maine, I love being here, and I’m really proud to be here,” Makar said.

The Student Section returned the love to one of their favorites with chants of ‘Taylor, Taylor’ raining down on the ice.

It’s no mystery why Makar is thrilled to be playing at Maine. Since transferring in the summer, the 7th-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche has had a completely resurrected season. Makar totaled 15 goals and 22 points in his three years at UMass. This season donning the blue-and-white, Makar now has 10 goals and 20 points in 60 less games played and has already over-doubled his production from last season with 11 fewer contests played.

“He’s been great, that’s cool for him to get the game-winner there,” Barr said about Makar.

A match made in hockey heaven, Makar and Maine were meant for each other.

Makar’s goal also marked the first time the Black Bears have scored more than two non-empty net goals since Christmas.

Phenomenal PK

The Minutemen’s 5th highest-scoring offense in the country entered the weekend with the second-most lethal powerplay in the nation, scoring an absurd 30.1% of the time when on the man advantage.

But the Black Bears didn’t just keep UMass’ elite power play scoreless Sunday afternoon; they completely shut them down.

In 3:24 of Minuteman's power play time over the course of the game, the Black Bears only allowed one UMass shot to reach Boja’s goal. For a team that struggled killing penalties two weekends ago against UConn, only successfully killing 71.4% of Connecticut’s power plays, Maine has now put together back-to-back perfect penalty kill percentages, keeping Northeastern 0/5 last Friday and now on Sunday UMass 0/3.

“It was good this weekend; we needed it to be,” Barr said about the PK.

The Maine PK wasn’t just killing off penalties left, and right this weekend, they were creating scoring chances in the process. Friday night, Owen Fowler opened the scoring with a shorty, and on Sunday, he narrowly missed another on a shorthanded breakaway. Maine’s front-footed penalty kill gave the Black Bears loads of momentum.

Netfront authority

Besides big-time plays by big-time individuals, the difference in the contest between two similar teams simply came down to who was better at the netfront.

The Black Bears were willing and able to take a pounding in front of UMass’ net, establishing themselves in front of the goal crease and not dissuaded by the hacks and whacks they had to take to remain there.

“Our net fronts were good. Our net fronts have been getting a lot better,” Nolan Renwick said.

Of Maine’s six goals this weekend, four have come from great netfront play. Two from deflections, one on a rebound, and another from a screen.

“It’s how we’re getting all of our goals right now. We’re not getting the 2-on-1s or the breakaways; we’re getting them [but] we’re just not scoring on some of them. That’s the goals that you score at this time of the year,” Barr said.

For Carvel, UMass being second-best in the dirty areas was the difference maker for his team’s loss on Sunday.

“We don’t pay the price around the net like a lot of teams. The chances that we got tonight compared to how Maine scored their goals. We scored on a rush, we scored on a nice play in the corner, and had a guy wide open in front of the net, but Maine scored two goals at the back post when we had guys there. We don’t score enough goals that way, and Maine scores that way all year long. That’s, to me, the difference,” Carvel said.

Maine got a couple of monkeys off their back this weekend.

Not only did they cleanly close out back-to-back games, but their offense is starting to ignite, more of the lineup has started to score, and the penalty kill was sensational.

If the Black Bears can get some bodies healthy and back into the lineup, this could be seen as a season-sparking weekend, with Maine overcoming boatloads of adversity and passing with flying colors.

Two gutsy wins.

Six-huge points.

But there’s only one Albin Boija.