Albin Boija waves to the traveling Maineiaks as he exits the ice. (Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics)

Makar, the Maine man for the moment.

The red-hot, sizzling stick of Taylor Makar did it again for the #5 Black Bears. His third goal of the weekend, an overtime winner, broke Saturday night’s goaltender battle, leading Maine past the #7 Providence Friars 1-0 to take a massive four road points from their trip to Rhode Island.

Black Bear Nation well and truly transformed Schneider Arena into Alfond South on Saturday night, with fifty or so UMaine students making the five-hour bus trip to Providence to cheer on their beloved Black Bears. Led by these Maineiaks and the not-so-Naked Five and bolstered by an already large contingent of traveling Maine fans, Friartown had all the sights and sounds of a Black Bears’ home game as the sea of blue and white-clad supporters outcheered the hosts from the opening puck drop to the final horn.

For Head Coach Ben Barr, the team’s on-ice success correlates directly with the rabid support they receive night in and night out, even 300 miles away from campus. In his view, it’s what sets Maine hockey apart as being in a world of its own, giving his team the ultimate advantage.

Ben Barr points to the traveling section of Maineiaks after the game. (Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics)

“It’s special; it’s something that people in other programs don’t have. It takes all of us, everyone. Not just the players or the school. Every win is a direct reflection of the community around this team. The biggest advantage we have as a program is that. You’re not going to have an advantage in other aspects today against other Hockey East teams. Maybe we’ll get closer to that with the [Alfond Arena] renovations, but it’s always going to be what sets us apart, and that’s a huge part of what can set us apart is the support that we get, which is so cool,” Barr said.

Any attempts by the Providence PA announcer to pump up the home crowd were left with crickets as the Friar Faithful acted more like they were at church than a hockey game.

But while Maine dominated the off-ice showing, on the ice, the Friars and Black Bears fought tooth-and-nail in as closely contested a battle as you will find. With both Swedish netminders Albin Boija and Phillip Svedebäck refusing to blink first, the contest turned into a good old-fashioned goaltending duel of the highest order.

Killing, killing, just keep killing

The Black Bears certainly owe Boija and the penalty killers a steak dinner. Maine’s performance on the PK single-handedly won the game for Maine, successfully killing off not one but two five-minute majors on Saturday and continuing the penalty kill’s terrific stretch since the bye week, killing off 13 of 14 penalties in their last four games.

“The guys did a phenomenal job,” Barr said. “Penalty killing won the game for us.”

The first of these five-minute kills came early into the first period when Nicholas Niemo was ejected for Kneeing, putting Maine behind the eight-ball early.

But the Maine PK didn’t just kill the penalty. They gave up very few grade-A scoring chances during the five minutes, with Providence’s best chance thwarted by the proactive stick of defenseman Bodie Nobes who managed to clear a puck sitting at the back post out of danger.

The other five-minute PK came late in the game when Jack Dalton was given a game misconduct for a cross-check to a Friar’s neck. This type of move will be called every day and twice on Sunday and could very likely lead to a suspension for Dalton.

This time, Providence created more chances on Maine’s net, but Boija held firm. He made a couple of sprawling saves to freeze pucks lying in front of him, as well as one ‘peer through your fingers save’ when a shot looked to have beat Boija five-hole, but was somehow kept out of the net by the holy goalie squeezing the wickets to hold on to the puck behind him, keeping it from trickling over the goal line.

The second successful five-minute kill not only kept the game scoreless late in the third period but took considerable wind out of Providence’s sail and handed Maine late-game momentum that they took with them into the overtime set. The double jeopardy of successfully killing off a major penalty and the following surge of momentum that follows is something Barr has been on the other side of when it has been his team that is unable to score and the loss of momentum that can follow the frustrating failure of the PP.

“Once they don’t get a lot going in the first minute or two of it, it sometimes gives some momentum to the other team. I felt like it kind of did that for us when we killed that off, and in the last couple of minutes and into overtime, it kind of gave us a little momentum. I’ve been on the other side of that too,” Barr explained.

Makar, the Maine man for the moment

Maine took the momentum generated by their successful PK into the 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime frame where there was always going to be only one man to step up in the moment. 

When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Taylor Makar’s got the midas touch right now because everything his stick touches turns to gold.

So when Nolan Renwick won the puck off a Friar in the corner and fed it to Makar, who was lurking by the blueline, everyone in Schneider Arena knew what was about to happen next. With oceans of space, Makar took a stride or two into the high slot before lasering a postage-stamp perfect shot high-glove side, clipping just inside the joint where post meets crossbar to call “ballgame” to the joyous cheers of the vocal majority inside Schneider Arena.

Taylor Makar and the Black Bears celebrate the senior’s career-high 13th goal of the season. (Photos courtesy of UMaine Athletics)

“He’s been incredible for the last few weeks. But really, all year he’s been solid,” Barr said about Makar who has now scored seven goals in his last five games, three of which were game wi, he’s been solid,” Barr said about Makar, who has now scored seven goals in his last five games, three of which were game-winning goals.

Makar has indeed been great all season in his lone campaign for the Black Bears since transferring from UMass over the summer. Currently playing the best hockey of his life, Makar’s 13 goals this season are only two shy of matching his three-year career total as a Minuteman.

Before the season, Barr stated that Makar “probably hasn’t reached his potential yet, and our job is to try and pull that out of him.”

Maine’s coaching staff have certainly pulled out another level and then some from Makar, who looks night and day a different player than what Black Bear Nation saw from him late in the season last year as a Minuteman. Barr, who initially recruited Makar to UMass during his tenure there as an assistant coach, isn’t surprised by the newfound monster they’ve been able to unlock.

“That’s a credit to him; his process is really good, and he works really hard, so it’s not surprising to me. It is surprising to me that he’s scoring every one of our goals right now, but we’ll take it,” Barr said.

Brickwall Boija

Makar isn’t the only Black Bear making everything look easy right now, with Albin Boija putting together another jaw dropping performance in net, recording his fourth shutout of the season. His 1.61 GAA is now the second-best among goaltenders in the country, only behind Minnesota State’s Alex Tracy (1.52 GAA).

The puck must be coming in looking like a beach ball to Boija, whose Saturday night was highlighted by two stonewall breakaway saves early in the second period, the first of which was during a Maine power play.

Most impressive is that nothing ever seems to rattle Boija, not a crosscheck to the ribs that was left uncalled after a video review, nor a broken mask that had to be exchanged for a plain white one that had Boija looking like a create-a-player in an NHL video game.

For Barr, Boija’s mature mental makeup and knack for the big moments is what sets him apart as one of the best goaltenders in the nation. Arguably, the best in all of college hockey.

“I think it’s the most impressive part of his game. He’s obviously a good goalie and a good athlete, but the best players, that’s why they are the best, it’s not that they are necessarily more athletic or bigger or stronger or whatever. It’s because they are the ones that can deliver in big moments and thrive in those situations. He’s one of those guys,” Barr said.

Finding a way

Maine’s win was by no means a masterpiece. But seldom can they be when facing off with a top-ten team playing in their own building. Then add in all of the penalty troubles that the Black Bears had to deal with and the physical toll that killing all those penalties has on Maine’s PK’ers.

Providence’s punishing physical presence, especially in the neutral zone, bottled the Black Bears up with a terrific neutral zone trap that forced turnovers routinely whenever a Maine pass dared to cut through center ice. All weekend, the Friars allowed no time and space for the Black Bears to get up ice with any ease.

“We turned a lot of pucks over, which is because Providence had us squeezed pretty good at times,” Barr said.

With this struggle to get into the offensive zone cleanly and establish some O-zone time, Maine was never really able to manufacture any momentum in the game, limited to just 20 shots on goal, their lowest tally of the season.

“It was hard to get momentum at all the whole weekend. They’re a really good team, and they’re tough in their building. We did what we had to do and found a way to get through it,” Barr said.

But championship-caliber teams find a way to win ugly and that’s exactly what the Black Bears have been doing of late. Since the turn of the New Year, in every game that Maine has played, if you take away any empty net goals, it has been a one-goal game. Of their six victories in 2025, only one can truly be because of a brilliant Black Bear performance: their 2-1 win over Denver. In all the rest, Maine has had to grit their teeth and grind out gutsy win after gusty win.

“The best teams find a way to get things done when it’s tough,” Barr said. “We still found a way so culturally, that’s a really good thing.”

It’s these types of gritty performances that are what it’s going to take to win at this time of the year, and it is certainly what it is going to take come the Hockey East playoffs and NCAA Tournament.

If the Black Bears of last year were learning how to win, this year’s Maine has shown they have the blueprint to know how they are going to win games, and they are doing just that.

After all, any performance can be improved upon, and until you win the last game of the year, there will always be room for growth.

“There’s no question that there’s a lot we need to work on, to get better at still. There will never be a time that we don’t say that unless we win that final game,” Barr explained.

But just keep winning, Black Bears, never stop.

The Maine Black Bears are on a mission.

I hope you’re buckled up, Maineiaks, because it’s going to be quite a ride.