Weekend Preview @ Providence

The Black Bears head south to Rhode Island for a top-ten test against the Friars.

The #5 Maine Black Bears continue their push toward the playoffs with a trip to southern New England, facing off with the #7 Providence College Friars for yet another marquee weekend set against a top-tier Hockey East rival.

Off of a bounce-back weekend sweep over Northeastern and UMass, the road trip to Rhode Island presents the Black Bears with arguably their second-toughest away series of the season, with the Friars ranked 6th in the Pairwise, slightly behind Maine in 4th.

Maine currently sits in second place on the Hockey East standing board, three points behind BC and one point above BU, with one game fewer played than both. Escaping Providence largely unscathed would be a massive step towards cementing the Black Bears’ place in the NCAA Tournament as well as earning a Hockey East Tournament first-round bye and quarterfinal home game.

Defense leading the charge

The Black Bears are hoping that the age-old mantra: ‘defense wins championships, ’ rings true this season. While Maine’s free-scoring offense from the first half of the season has sputtered since Christmas, it’s been the Black Bears’ defense that has been doing all the heavy lifting.

In nine games played since the winter break, Maine has only twice given up more than three goals in a game while not allowing more than two to reach the back of their net in all others. This defensive dominance has Maine permitting the third lowest goals-against-average in the nation, a minuscule 1.8 GAA. It’s not only that opponents are having a tricky time putting the puck in Maine’s net, but they’re struggling to get it to the net in the first place. Maine’s 22.8 shots-against-average is the smallest in the country, with the Black Bears not being outshot in a single game this season and only allowing 30 or more shots against twice this year (October 26th at Northeastern and November 8th at BC). 

“I think [defense] is something we’ve emphasized quite a bit. Obviously, we haven’t been scoring, so we haven’t had a choice. We have to be really good defensively,” junior defenseman Brandon Holt said.

On top of not allowing the opposition many looks on their net, Maine’s defense, especially of late, has allowed its opponents even fewer grade-A, golden scoring opportunities, permitting only a handful of odd-man rushes or breakaways since the turn of the New Year. According to goaltender Albin Boija, much of this has to do with the Black Bears’ blueliners. They’ve been, for the most part, making well-timed pinches down the walls when the puck is in the Maine offensive zone, keeping bodies between the puck and the Black Bears’ net, and leaving few numerical disadvantages to be exposed at the backend. Able to do so even when Maine is on the attack by making sure a forward covers for all the pinching Maine’s defensemen love to do.

“I think it’s the way we play in the offensive zone. We try and work out with our third forward so that allows our D to step up on pucks and stop them before it’s even a chance,” Boija explained.

This proactive, front-footed approach to defense necessitates minimizing mistakes that could lead to odd-man rushes and breakaways, especially when Maine’s defenseman is in control of the puck at the point, a dangerous area for fastbreaks that can go the other way. For Head Coach Ben Barr, making simple plays with the puck when walking the blueline is critical in limiting errors, as a turnover at the point leaves most of Maine’s defenders on the wrong side of the puck.

“We’re not a D core that’s going to try and do what you might see Taylor’s brother Cale [Makar] do or the Lane Hutson types or whatever. We’re get it, hopefully, have a shot lane and get it there, move it D to D, try and be simple with it, move your feet, and try and create a shot lane if you have time and space. The simpler, the better,” Barr explained.

Nobody in Maine’s ranks is as masterful at ensuring pucks get through traffic and on net from the blueline, or at least out of the danger areas, as last week’s Hockey East Defender of the Week, Brandon Holt, whose goal and assist last Sunday came from doing just that.

“He does everything well. He isn’t flashy in any way. His skating is really good, his skating mechanics and his shooting mechanics are really good, so if he gets a puck at the point and there’s a shot lane, he’s going to take it. His head is always up, not stickhandling or overhandling the puck, it’s in a place where he can shoot it. He’s excellent defensively,” Barr said about Holt.

Meanwhile, when Maine does give up an opening in transition, Holt’s skating skill allows him to recover and negate the opposition’s odd-man rush, absorbing the opponent’s speed through center ice and shepherding the forward into a less dangerous area of the ice — or by straight up winning the puck.

“He’s such a strong skater, he’ll work back on pucks, maybe it’s about to become a 2-on-1, but then all of a sudden he’s back in the play, taking the puck away from a guy that didn’t even know he was there,” Boija said.

“I like to think I’m a really good one-on-one defender. I pride myself on winning one-on-one battles. Shutting down plays early is, I think, when I’m at my best,” Holt added.

Over the first two months, Holt was arguably Maine’s most impactful player. But a knee injury suffered at UNH in late November sidelined the North Dakota native until after the Christmas break, where it took the junior a bit of time to re-find his comfort and confidence on the ice.

“He’s impactful every night. He’s been consistently good for us for three years. It looked like he had a little bit more pop to his game this weekend,” Barr said. “He’s not been quite himself since he had an injury there before Christmas and was out for a few weeks, but I feel like he’s finally getting back to being the player that I think is confident in his body again.”

Holt recognizes that keeping his game uncomplex has allowed him to overcome the mental hurdle of regaining his top form after returning from injury.

“I think I just got back to playing more like myself. I felt more like myself than I have in a long time and it kind of just came back to playing simple, trusting myself, moving my feet, just doing the things that make me tick and be effective,” Holt said. “Just getting back to playing simple, not trying to do too much. If you start overthinking, it kind of bogs your mind down, and you start second-guessing yourself out there. So just getting back to square one, playing simple is what makes me good.”

Aside from not giving up many scoring chances in transition, Barr puts much of Maine’s recent defensive success as simply boiling down to an increased willingness to get down to the nitty-gritty, putting in the hard work of embracing playing defense and showcasing the required work ethic required to do so.

“There were times around Christmas, before Christmas, after Christmas that it didn’t seem like we really wanted to play defense at times. We were just going in there, hoping to knock the puck off someone’s stick and go the other way, that’s the easy way to do it,” Bar said. “Sometimes, you’re going to have to defend for fifteen, twenty seconds, get a guy up into the wall, and then hopefully, we get out of the zone, get a line change, and go on offense. So I think it’s just a willingness to play D. When we’re willing to do that, we’re fine, when we’re not, we spend time in our zone, and we give up grade-A chances.”

Of course, Maine’s fantastic defensive record is also helped tremendously by having one of the best goaltenders in the nation, which Barr sees as hands-down the most important piece in having a truly championship-caliber team. The ultimate game-changer.

“If we’re going to do the things that we hope to do as a team, that’s the most important position whether we like that or not or whether [Boija] likes that or not. I think he understands that,” Barr said.

Boija certainly has shown that he is up for any task. With his back-to-back wins last weekend and the ‘Save Heard ‘Round the World,’ the sophomore earned his 25th career win in just his 41st career game, the fastest Maine goaltender to reach that achievement since Ben Bishop in 2007. His incredible weekend also earned Boija Hockey East Goaltender of the Week.

Barr credits his mental makeup as the key characteristic enabling Boija’s uncanny ability to step up and shine in the game’s biggest moments.

“He’s very strong between the ears. He’s an athletic kid, he’s a good athlete, he’s a good goalie obviously. He’s technically sound, but he wants to be in there in those tough moments. That save he made on Sunday was incredible. There’s a big difference between players that are just existing in those moments and players that want to be in those moments and I think he’s one of those guys that wants to be in that moment,” Barr said. “We’re not asking him to win us every single game in the world. But like he did on Sunday, when we need him to be there in a big moment for us, that’s what big-time goaltenders do, and he did that.”

All hands on deck

Like Boija was on Sunday, Maine will need a Black Bear in every game from here on out to stand up and be the hero for Maine. Lacking a single truly elite, high-end, skilled player who, night in and night out, can clutch up in the game’s most significant moments, the Black Bears realistically will need a different performer to shine in every single game.

“We’re a team that’s going to need someone in each game to step up, and that might be a different guy each game,” Barr said. “We need everybody to be with their A or B game; you may not have an A+ game every single night.”

The Black Bears certainly have a wide array of characters to do this, but they will need meaningful impact from everyone in their lineup if they are to reach the postseason and make it a success. The Black Bears can’t afford to have anyone play a C or D game.

“Our depth has to be our strength,” Barr said on the Black Bear Coaches Show.

Josh Nadeau’s performance this past weekend may have been overlooked, but it should not be underrated. His goal and two assists capped off a weekend where the sophomore looked more involved and energetic than he has all season. It wasn’t just his play with the puck, which looks more natural and responsive, no longer overthinking every move, It was his pesky physicality, endless tenacity on the boards, and overall work-rate that was noteworthy and which stood on the ice.

His defense led to offense on a number of occasions, including on his shorthanded assist for Owen Fowler’s goal Friday night. While his offensive production has dropped off from last season’s sensational campaign, his defensive play has improved significantly and is the reason why he is one of Maine’s lead penalty killers.

“I play both ends, defense, and offense more. Obviously, when you play defense, you don’t get to go on offense [as much]. I think my game has matured a lot, and I’ve been working hard,” Nadeau said.

Having Nadeau begin to refind his scoring hands will be incredibly important for the Black Bears down the stretch, as Maine will need their best players to be their best players. Nadeau certainly looks on his way to doing just that.

“It was definitely a step in the right direction for him. He’s a good hockey player, sometimes, when he keeps it simple and puts the puck on the net, good things happen,” Barr explained. “He’s a driver of offense for us. I think he’s had moments where he’s been a little frustrated offensively, that’s not because of a lack of chances or a lack of effort or anything like that, I think it’s just a simplification of things, and when he does that he’s as good as anyone in Hockey East. He’s going to be a big part of what we do the rest of the season. Whether that’s how far we can take this thing, a lot of that is going to be how Josh is playing.”

Along with Nadeau, it’s been encouraging to see Holt back to producing regularly, Renwick and Makar continually elevating their game and getting on the scoresheet, David Breazeale playing as consistently as he has all year, Owen Fowler constantly impacting games, and Brandon Chabrier being near back to his best. Now, if Maine can just get Ross Mitton back to being his best self, Sully Scholle producing, and Charlie Russell and Lynden Breen back healthy, they could actually start peaking at the perfect time in the season.

It takes a village.

Power play problems?

What certainly needs to get turned around and turned around quickly is Maine’s power play, which had a rough go at it last weekend, going 0 for 8 over the two games while also not looking particularly dangerous.

The power play was their strength at the beginning of the season, but like the rest of their offensive production, they now look to be frustrated and overthinking every play. They haven’t been cohesive in their zone entries nor confident in their shooting looks.  But as with every other problem Maine has faced of late, Barr’s solution is to go back to the basics, get back to the nuts and bolts of the game.

“When we struggle, we just have to go back to basics. You win your battles. Right now, we’re not retrieving loose pucks in the offensive zone on the power play, and that’s a little bit of effort and willingness to do that right now cause we’re a little frustrated. Our entries aren’t great. So it’s not that we can’t do it, it’s just that our execution hasn’t been great. So you get back to winning faceoffs, winning battles, and we’ll create more chances,” Barr said.

Just like with even-strength play, getting back to putting pucks on net, setting screens in front of the goaltender, looking for deflections, and lurking for rebounds is the simplest way to get the power play back to firing.

“The power play, I don’t think, has been terrible -  it’s just been hard to score right now, it’s been hard for us to score 5-on-5. So again, it kind of just goes back to trying to simplify things, creating shot lanes, getting pucks to the net, and getting a rebound. That’s how we try and score 5-on-5 and you can apply a lot of those things to the power play. You have your ebbs and flows as the season goes along,” Barr said.

Facing off with the Friars

An established net-front presence will be extra important for Maine heading into this weekend, as Providence is as good of a net-front team as there is in the entire country. Extremely physical, hard-nosed, well-structured, and detailed. Under longtime Firar’s Head Coach Nate Leaman, a former Old Town High School coach and assistant under the legendary Shawn Walsh during the 1999 National Championship season,  the Friars do everything well and do everything extremely hard and very well.

“They are a hard team to play against. They hit, they forecheck, backcheck, it’s not going to be an easy weekend, we’ll have to work hard and play simple, and good things should happen,” Nadeau said.

Barr and Leaman have known each other for a long time, having coached together for six years, first at Union, where Barr assisted Leaman, and then at Providence, where Leaman brought Barr with him. The similar style of their team’s play is certainly no coincidence.

“I learned a lot from him, I was with him for six years, together at Union and Providence. I think he’s as detailed a coach as there is, and that was really eye-opening for me as a young kid. I think I was 24 or 25 when I got the job at Union with him. So he taught me a lot about the details of the game. His players and his teams always play really detailed, heavy hockey, so I owe a lot to him,” Barr said.

With these two heavyweight freight trains colliding, open ice will be nonexistent. Neither team will give the other any free offense, hits will be heavy, and like it always does, the contests will come down to who can execute in front of the net more efficiently.

“They are a very physical, fast team, and they do a really good job at the net fronts,” Barr warned. “I think against them at their rink, they do a really good job filtering pucks to our net. Shots that might not seem like a big deal, it might hit someone in the leg, or maybe Albin makes a save, and the rebound is there, and they put it in, they are as good at that as any team. And then it’s hard to get to their net. Their D clears their net really well… so making the most of those chances to get the puck to the net with a screen, tip, rebound, that kind of stuff, chances are that will probably decide both games.”

But the Friars aren’t just muscle; they also have the skill to back it up and make plays with the puck. Leaman arguably boasts his most skilled team, certainly in terms of depth, in recent seasons.

“I think they are more skilled than they have been the last couple of years so not only are they going to hit you and finish every check and always be above the puck, they are going to make plays. They’re as good as a team as any, different from a BC or BU, heavier, different type of game, but just as good as a team as we’ll play in their own right, so it’s going to be a really tough test this weekend,” Barr praised.

Led by graduate transfer from Colorado College Logan Will (8g-12a-20pts), sophomore forwards Tanner Adams (10g-17a-17pts), Graham Gamache (8g-6a-14pts), Hudson Malinoski (7g-8a-15pts), and freshman forwards John Mustard (6g-10a-16pts) and Will Elger (7g-8a-15pts), the Friars have plenty of attacking options that can hurt Maine.

Meanwhile, in between the pipes for Providence are two experienced goaltenders in longtime Friar #Phillip Svedebäck (2.39GAA-0.915SV%) and Merrimack graduate transfer Zachary Borgiel (2.12GAA-0.931SV%).

This could likely prove to be Maine’s most difficult test in their remaining regular season gauntlet. If the Black Bears can get through this weekend unscathed, they’ll be able to soar into the UNH weekend and then tackle the remaining few weeks of the season full of momentum and confidence.

Conquer the Friars, and this could be the spark to truly ignite the remaining season we’ve all been waiting for.  

All hands on deck, who’s going to be the hero?