The last time the Vermont Catamounts came to Orono, in March 2022, the Green Mountain Boys headed back to Burlington with a 4-2 playoff win, leaving the Alfond devastated and deflated, and the Maine Black Bears season ended. At the time, Vermont was the last-place team in Hockey East, and Maine was in an end-of-season skid.

Fast forward a year to this time last season, and the Black Bears were also trending in the wrong direction when it was their turn to make the trip to Vermont, limping into the penultimate regular season weekend with a 3-5 record during February. 

Over the course of that weekend series in Burlington, the Catamounts gave everything the Black Bears could handle, grinding out a 2-1 victory before Maine got revenge the next night, scraping out a tense 3-2 win thanks to a resolute penalty kill.

Maine’s gutsy Saturday night victory at the Gutterson Fieldhouse turned the tide of the Black Bears’ late-season fortunes. The following weekend, Maine swept Massachusetts in the final regular season series before soaring to a memorable 5-0 Hockey East Tournament Quarterfinal victory over New Hampshire.

That all-important weekend win over Vermont re-kick started Maine’s campaign.

This season’s Black Bears hope for a similar late-season readjustment with the playoffs looming just two weekends away and Maine’s play sputtering.

“We’ve got to get some things back on track, obviously. We haven’t played to the level and the standard that we set at the beginning of the year the past month or so, and we’re aware of that. We’re taking steps to change that, just kind of getting back to our mindset of every single day is an opportunity to get better,” Senior defenseman David Breazeale said.

Aside from a scintillating third period against UNH, Maine has been stuck in the mud for the better part of the last three weeks. The February freeze appears to have seized up the once smoothly running Maine machine.

Unlike past February lulls, Maine has still been able to grit their teeth and grind out their fair share of victories and ties without playing anywhere near their best hockey. It’s evidence of a good hockey team’s capability, but one that no team with championship aspirations wants to rely upon.

Time is starting to run out for Maine to get their game back on track so they can attack the playoffs full steam ahead, brimming with confidence. The Black Bears have already locked up a First-Round bye in the Hockey East playoffs, home-ice advantage for the Quarterfinals, and a mathematical guarantee for the NCAA Tournament this weekend and next. The most important thing this weekend is seeing a markedly improved performance from the team rather than grinding out results they perhaps didn’t deserve. It’s got to start now.

The Black Bears no doubt feel as though they’ve been playing hockey for months now, a credit to the remarkably high level of this year’s conference that hasn’t seen Maine play a Hockey East opponent currently ranked outside the top 25 in the Pairwise since the New Year.

“It seems like every game is a bloodbath, every game is playoff hockey, and every point matters. For us, we haven’t found our game for the past three, four weekends. We’ve luckily snuck in a lot of points that maybe we shouldn’t have, but we’re working on finding our game, and we’ve got a new level to reach,” Senior forward Lynden Breen said.

“You can feel it in the body that we’ve been playing playoff hockey. It definitely hurts a lot more. Every check gets finished. It’s so much tighter out there with no space to work. Less time to make plays,” Senior forward Nolan Renwick added.

Time to turn it around

It really does feel like this weekend is now or never for Maine to  reverse their ‘skid.’ Another disjointed weekend performance would signal alarm bells for Black Bear Nation worried that Maine will enter the most important stretch of the season playing their most sluggish hockey of the year.

Last weekend in Storrs, Connecticut, the Black Bears put together a so-so performance that saw them do some things really well but just as many aspects not well at all, ultimately falling in overtime. Finding a way to get back to playing consistently strong hockey for a complete 60 minutes undoubtedly will have been a priority for Head Coach Ben Barr and his coaching staff during this week in practice.

“We’ve got to clean everything up. Credit to UConn, we knew they were going to have a lot of energy, they were playing at their rink. I thought that they controlled the pace of that whole game for the most part. We were okay in the second period, but the first and the third wasn’t pretty. We just have to be as simple and as detailed as we can be. That’s not in just one aspect of the game, it’s everything. We complicated the game; we didn’t win a lot of one-on-one battles. When we had the puck, we threw it away because we were a little bit overwhelmed having it, and we didn’t want that responsibility on our tape, and it was an ugly game,” Barr said.

In the early portion of the season, Maine was much better at the little details of their game: finishing hits in the neutral zone, staying above the puck, rotating in the D-zone as a connected five-man unit, and keeping the game in front of them with bodies supporting the puck. Maine must tighten up these minute details that make all the difference in the game, even as opposition teams are getting more structurally secure and improving their own details with every passing week. The Black Bears not only have to iron out their wrinkles, they also have to match and surpass their opposition, who all seem to be playing their best hockey of the season at this moment. On top of this, as one of the top teams in the country, Maine has a bullseye on their backs.

Coinciding with this, the Black Bears have got to get back to physically overpowering their opposition through bludgeoning physicality that can grind other teams to a pulp, open up space and time, and overwhelm their opponents. For weeks now, Maine hasn’t head and shoulders out-hit another team. It will be crucial for the Black Bears to reestablish with the overpowering physical game that is such a big part of their identity.

“I think it’s just getting back to the details, the little things that make us successful. I think at the start of the year, we were really tight on them, and maybe other teams weren’t, but now we are getting close to playoff hockey, and everyone plays well, everyone plays physical, so if we can do that better than everyone else, I think that will give us the edge,” Renwick explained. “The way to create space is with your details, playing physically ourselves. We’ve got to do that a little bit better, and good things will happen.”

Plenty of positives, too

While many things haven’t been clicking for Maine in recent weeks, it’s by no means all doom and gloom.

The biggest positive for the Black Bears last weekend was getting the heart and soul of the team, Lynden Breen, back on the ice and looking remarkably like his old self just 83 days after breaking his fibula.

“I thought I got my feet under myself after a few shifts, but it wasn’t too bad, I had to knock the rust off a little bit, but I thought I played alright,” Breen said. “Having one under my belt now, I’m pretty confident, feeling comfortable, and excited for the weekend.”

Barr saw Breen’s performance as being better than just “alright.” He was confident enough to put him out on the ice for the three-on-three overtime set, where Breen rang a shot off the crossbar.

“He was actually better than I thought he would be, to be honest with you. He got scored on there in the first, kind of a bad bounce or whatever, but he almost won the game in overtime, [but] hit the crossbar, so at the end of the game, he was looking like he was pretty close to his old self,” Barr said.

It isn’t just the diligent two-way play that makes Breen such a key part of this team, but his leadership on and off the ice. In particular, he leads by example through sheer hard work and endless energy, a factor that should give a jolt to his adoring teammates, who clearly are over the moon by his return.

“It’s so great having him back in the locker room on gamedays, so great having him back on the ice, he’s such a fantastic hockey player, brings so much energy, so much juice for the team. He does things right, he works so hard, and he loves this place as much as anybody,” Breazeale said. “He is everything you would want a Black Bear to be.”

Another relief for Black Bear Nation was the power play, finally getting the monkey off their back by scoring twice down in Storrs to put their 0-for-29 scoreless drought in the rearview mirror.

The power play looked good against UNH, had a lot more jump in their step, was able to retrieve pucks after shooting attempts, moved the puck quickly and cleanly, and overall played with a lot of poise and purpose with the puck. As the playoffs begin, penalties are typically called less. As such, being able to capitalize on your man-advantages becomes extremely important and very well could be the difference between moving on and going home.

Don’t count out the Catamounts

Although Vermont is in second-to-last place in the Hockey East standings, nobody on Maine should be counting the Catamounts out, with UVM ranked #26 in the Pairwise. Vermont has shown that they can beat anyone this season, getting the better of the likes of Lowell, UMass, Providence, UNH, and UConn this campaign. Most recently, UVM was swept at home by Boston College.

“Vermont is a very good team; I watched them play BC last weekend, and they controlled large points of the game. BC is obviously highly skilled, and they can score, and that becomes the difference in the game. But as far as the analytics and the statistics of the game, those are two very even games. This is going to be a great test for us again,” Barr warned on the Black Bear Coaches Show.

Vermont plays a heavy and fast style of game that looks to jump all over opponents while at the same time being very structurally sound defensively. They don’t allow their opponents many grade-A scoring chances. Maine will have to work very hard for everything they get.

With an average weight that’s eight pounds heavier than Maine, the Black Bears should expect a physical and hungry Catamount side that will look to grind down Maine’s willingness to make plays with the puck before being rattled into the boards. 

“Vermont is an unbelievable team, and whether their record shows it or not, they are a team that’s going to come out swinging Friday night, and we’ve got to be ready for that,” Breen said.

The Catamounts have plenty of quality scoring depth and are led by veteran forwards #9 Joel Maatta (9g-16a-25pts), #18 Massimo Lombardi (8g-10a-18pts), #13 Timofei Spitserov (11g-6a-17pts), #16 Will Zapernick (3g-13a-16pts), #19 Simon Jellus (8g-8a-16pts), and #22 Isak Walther (5g-11a-16pts). 

Maatta is by far the standout Catamount forward the Black Bears will have to keep a close eye on.

“He really kind of stirs the drink for them, he does everything well. He’s a 200-foot player. This year, he’s obviously kind of having a breakout year offensively. He’s outstanding, he’s really good, he’s really hard, and he wins a lot of faceoffs, so he’s one of the better two-way forwards in our league,” Barr said about Maatta.

Meanwhile, freshmen forwards such as #7 Colin Kessler (11g-11a-22pts) and #29 Max Strand (3g-13a-20pts) have given this Vermont offense a shot in the arm this season.

Between the pipes, however, has been the Catamounts’ weakness this season,  something Maine certainly will want to exploit. Sophomore #50 Alex Mangbo (2.962 GAA-0.891 SV%) has gotten the majority of starts, but Minnesota State graduate transfer #35 Keenan Rancier (3.179 GAA-0.887 SV%) may also feature this weekend.

Vermont will be looking to take a statement win from the Alfond, driving them into the playoffs.  As with every team Maine faces, these opponents will have had their date with the mighty Black Bears circled in red on their calendars for weeks now. The Catamounts will come into Orono hungry, full of energy and desire, and will no doubt put up quite the fight.

“Every team in Hockey East is really good this year. There are no nights off; there is no team that is a pushover. Vermont is going to come in here, and they’re going to be hungry to win, so they’ll give us their best effort. I think, as a group, we’ve got to be excited about it. It’s a great challenge, great opportunity to get better, clean some stuff up, and get six points on the weekend,” Renwick said.

And, of course, this weekend is the dreaded Senior Week, where Black Bear Nation will say goodbye to some of the long-time favorite players who’ve been key as Barr’s building blocks. Breazeale, Renwick, and Breen will play their final regular-season games at the Alfond before being honored on Saturday after the game alongside Harrison Scott, Taylor Makar, and Ross Mitton, all of whom are also playing in their final year of college eligibility.

“Four years have flown by in a blink of an eye. I feel like I was just a freshman celebrating the seniors my freshman year. It’s crazy how fast it’s gone; I’m just grateful for the experience and blessed to be able to celebrate it this weekend,” Breazeale said. “The chance to pull on the script and play in the Alfond, it’s one of the most amazing things in the world.”

It’s sure to be as emotional a weekend as it is a defining series of hockey. 

The Black Bears have the perfect opportunity to honor their seniors in the best way possible by getting their game back on track, picking up all 6 points, and soar into the final week of the season and the playoffs, full speed ahead.

Cherish these players, cherish these moments, cherish this team.