Grab the trowels and pack the tillers. The Black Bears are shipping up to Boston with a date at the Garden.

The Alfond rocked, the Bears buzzed, and the Cats were left with nowhere to hide as Maine trounced New Hampshire 5-0 in the Hockey East quarterfinals, sending the Black Bears to their first conference semifinal appearance since 2012.

After UNH mauled Maine in back-to-back games in mid-February and the following abuse the Black Bears on and off the ice had to endure in Durham, the chance for payback in the biggest game of the season was mouthwatering, to say the least.

But to restore the rightful balance of the food chain and end the Wildcats' season in the most poetic of fashions, the Black Bears would need a night-and-day improved performance from that fateful weekend at the Whittemore Center.

Over the two games in Durham, UNH outskated, outhit, and outsmarted Maine. Spurred on by their raucous home crowd, UNH outplayed Maine in every facet of the game, especially in open ice, where the Wildcats utilized blistering team speed to wheel and deal around the Black Bears, who struggled to keep up.

On the other side of the puck that weekend, the Wildcats were stubbornly successful in shutting down Maine's top playmakers by standing strong on the blueline and slowing down the Black Bears' puck carriers. This completely negated Maine's high-octane, speed, and precision offense, which, unable to enter the zone with any pace, was squeezed off the puck time and again, not often able to set up cleanly in the attacking zone for much prolonged time.

But that was then, and this is now.

And that was there, and this is here, at Fortress Alfond, where Black Bear Nation's boisterous support can not only raise Maine's level up a notch but shrink the opposition to look like a shell of their former selves.

On Saturday night, the most anticipated game the old barn has seen in over a decade, this feverish fury was taken to new extremes.

The atmosphere outside the rink over an hour before the puck dropped was already bubbling with excitement as a sea of blue descended upon the Alfond, lining up in the thousands well before the doors had even opened.

The feeling amongst the hordes anxiously waiting was universal. Both quietly confident that their team's recent refound form and the raucous crowd expected could be enough to overwhelm the Wildcats. But equally weary of the threat UNH posed, especially after their most recent encounters.

For UNH, sitting outside of the National Tournament bubble, this contest was literally a must-win game. Win or their season is over, and they're off to the golf course.

But for Maine, who had already locked up their at-large bid for the big dance, it was a must-win game in more of a figurative sense.

A redemption win over the old enemy would be picture-perfect. But in contrast, the nauseating possibility of seeing the Wildcats celebrate a playoff win on Alfond ice would be an unspeakable tragedy and a dark cloud to loom over this most miraculous of seasons.

Since New Hampshire thrashed the Black Bears exactly one month ago, UNH has continued its best season in over a decade, roaring to six wins in its previous nine games heading into this weekend. More impressive was how UNH was getting these victories, which were nearing record-breaking heights for the program.

UNH's stonewall defense, led by junior goaltender Jakob Hellsten, entered the game without allowing a single goal in over nine periods of play, recording three straight shutouts. The most recent blemish on Hellsten's stat sheet came all the way back on March 3rd, when the #1 team in the country, Boston College, could only manage a single goal against UNH in BC's 1-0 win over the Wildcats.

That's only one goal allowed in over twelve periods of hockey played, a streak almost unheard of in the modern game.

Maine would be challenged to break down a red-hot goaltender who has stopped over sixty straight shots in a row, bolstered by a defense oozing with confidence.

But this is the Alfond, where the opposition's confidence can crumble under the chaos the cauldron produces.

While Black Bear Nation may have been hyper-fixated on getting one over the noisy neighbors, the message coming out of the Black Bears dressing room was instead of getting caught up with playing the hated name on the front of the opposition sweater, they instead focused solely on themselves and their own game.

In Durham, the Black Bears played the occasion and were swept up in the emotions surrounding the rivalry, getting away from playing the type of game that has brought them so much success this season.

Drawing from that experience and not wanting to overwhelm themselves with the added Border Battle hubbub that surrounds an already massively important playoff game, Maine was completely focused on taking care of their own business. They were confident that as long as they could play their game to the highest of their ability, the desired result would take care of itself.

Maintaining composure would be key. Not allowing the moment to get too big for them would be vital in being able to lock out the noise, keep their focus, and continue their recent renaissance of play.

Head Coach Ben Barr emphasized this point in the lead-up to the contest, stressing that Maine can only focus on themselves, making sure to take care of the details of their own game. These details Barr mentioned were all aspects that were sorely lacking in Durham. Finishing everyhit, winning the one-on-one puck battles, establishing a superior net-front presence, and out-executing the Wildcats all over the ice would all be crucial components to Maine's success. These are all basic concepts, but as Barr explained, these little things suddenly become magnified tenfold in importance during the playoffs as the margins become razor-thin. Whichever team can excel at executing these details better and more consistently will put themselves in a better position to exit the battle victorious.

The lineup Barr entrusted to lead the Black Bears to their first playoff win since 2015 was the same one the Alfond Faithful saw just a week prior in their dramatic sweep over UMass. Once again, Albin Boija, who was never even supposed to be on this team until a late-summer NCAA eligibility problem arose, forcing Maine to quickly scramble to find another goaltender, started between the pipes. Boija, whose first collegiate start came against UNH at the Alfond in early December, has not looked back since taking the starting job from fellow countryman Victor Ostman in early February with his outstanding and consistent play.

Although the balcony was not one hundred percent full due to students still away on spring break, an impressive number of Mainikas returned to campus early to support their team. They orchestrated the chants that thundered around the packed Alfond, which was vocally by far the loudest it's been all season.

As the teams entered the ice, the old girl shook like it hadn't in a long, long time. The monsoon of noise bouncing off the wooden roof was deafening. You couldn't hear yourself think.

It was as if months, years, and even decades of emotion that had been slowly building among the Alfond Faithful's long-awaited yearning for a return to Maine's glory days suddenly poured out all at once.

The rafters shook to the Alfonders' roar.

To everyone's relief, the agonizingly slow build-up was over and the puck dropped on the most anticipated game at the storied old rink in recent memory.

Playoff hockey. Bears and Cats, scraping it out on a frozen sheet in Orono. There's nothing better.

The game thundered to a fierce start right from the hop.

The cacophonous support rained down onto the ice around Maine, jolting their legs with endless energy and pumping adrenaline into their hearts. The Black Bears shot out like a cannon to open the first period.

Getting right down to business, Maine established their dominance early, barely letting New Hampshire get a sniff of the puck during the opening minutes. It wasn't the blood and thunder, physically bashing start we've seen from them at times this season, but rather a mature, composed, and controlled start of a team looking like they were brimming with confidence in themselves.

Patient and poised with the puck, Maine spent the opening minutes playing keep-away from the Cats, who could barely touch the puck. The Black Bears, beginning with the defenseman in the neutral zone, methodically and calmly found either the other defenseman or a supporting winger. Their cycling passes kept Maine in constant motion, comfortably controlling the puck, sizing up UNH's defensive structure, and looking for the best holes to exploit.

There were not many apparent chinks in the Wildcat armor as UNH did a good job, as they did in Durham, of standing strong on their blueline, not allowing Maine to skate the puck into their zone with any ease. This forced the Black Bears to put it in deep for themselves to chase, relinquishing their complete puck control and slowly allowing UNH to find their feet. The Wildcats were able to break out past the Maine forecheck more regularly, who may have blown themselves out during the opening few minutes of charged play.

After the Black Bears sprung out of the gates early, the Wildcats quieted the previously ear-splitting crowd with their own puck control and offensive flurries. New Hampshire, breaking out of their zone with speed in numbers, made short and quick passes to nearby teammates in the neutral zone, always keeping plenty of UNH bodies close by to support the puck carrier moving up ice.

This drastically differs from Maine's approach through center ice, which relies on the puck carrier skating into open ice for as long as possible before finding a teammate just as he is closed down. While Maine's neutral zone game plan focuses on carrying the puck first before attempting a stretch pass or gaining the redline to dump the puck in deep, UNH prefers to link up their forwards with many quick and short passes to work it up ice, almost always choosing to carry it in rather than dump it.

Once the Wildcats gained Maine's defensive zone, which became more frequent as the period wore on, New Hampshire mostly kept to the perimeter of the zone. Maine did a good job in keeping the puck away from dangerous scoring areas as the Black Bears always made sure to keep numbers between their goal and the puck. They were happy enough to allow hopeful pot-shots to be thrown at Boija, which was looking for deflections, but these attempts were often whistled inaccurately wide.

Although Boija muffed a few of the first shots, not saving them very cleanly, once he got a feel for the game, he did everything you could ever ask of a goaltender. Save everything that needed saving. Even with UNH's puck control and momentum, their offense wasn't able to overly tax Maine. New Hampshire struggled to work the puck into dangerous shooting areas as the Black Bears defended well around the net, keeping the Wildcats comfortably at stick length and unable to truly test Boija in net.

New Hampshire's best opportunity came with about five minutes left in the opening frame when one of UNH's most deadly shooters, Ryan Comny, scooped up the puck from a failed Maine breakout. Finding himself in the high slot, Comny ripped a wicked wrister over Boija's shoulder. The Alfond held their breath as the sharp ring of rubber clanking off iron echoed around the momentarily silent rink, causing plenty of hearts to skip a beat in the process and gasps of horror to be screech out. But the hockey gods were on the side of the Black Bears Saturday night as the puck ever so narrowly refused to find twine, instead bouncing off the underside of the crossbar and popping back out into play.

How could the game's trajectory have changed if Comny's shot had flown just millimeters lower?

The Alfond exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

Like they began the period, Maine ended the first back on top and in control of the game's proceedings. But still, the Black Bears couldn't quite connect on the final pass needed to finish off the attacking move. Their seam passes were just out of reach of their intended target, and the game entered the first intermission still scoreless.

The execution of the final pass that had been ever so narrowly missing for the Black Bears in the first period immediately started clicking to at the start of the second. The Nadeau brothers, who were completely shut down in both games in Durham, getting bodied off the puck every time they took it into the offensive zone, have been much maligned in recent months over their struggles dealing with the opponent's physicality, which has increased as the season wore on. Some of the more pessimistic opinions of Black Bear Nation have wondered if either of the two freshmen has improved much since the beginning of the season. Have they been able to raise their game to the next level to deal with the obvious target on their backs? But, now in the biggest game of the season, the Nadeaus have certainly broken out of any plateau they may have been in, raising their game into a whole new gear, silencing any critics in the process. As the games increased in importance, the Nadeaus raised their game to match.

In every passing game in recent weeks, the brothers have looked more comfortable and willing to put in the hard yards in the dirty areas of the ice. In this they were much better at fitting in with the team identity of hard-nosed, detailed hockey emphasizing physicality and winning the one-on-one battles against the boards by outworking the opposition.

In the first minute of the second period, Bradly Nadeau broke out over Maine's blueline, poking the puck off the boards past the New Hampshire defender. The Wildcat went to hit Brad, who refused to be squeezed off the puck like he had often been in Durham. He absorbed the hit while keeping his feet moving to break past the defenseman's check with the puck and open ice ahead of him. Now crossing over UNH's blueline and attracting the focus of all four backchecking Wildcats, Bradly tossed a beautiful backhand pass into open ice, perfectly onto the tape of Josh, who came racing into the vacant slot, uncontested. Josh made easy work of the golden opportunity, beating Hellsten's glove side and sending the agonizingly on-edge crowd into rapturous relief.

New Hampshire's defense had finally been broken, the first goal Hellsten had allowed in ten periods of play.

The first domino had fallen, and the floodgates opened soon thereafter.

The balcony began to bounce, sensing New Hampshire's fragility. Maine, with their tails up and their barn pulsating with noise, also smelled Wildcat blood. Finally, Maine found their forechecking game by plastering UNH viciously into the boards. This egged on the crowd, who grew louder with every passing minute. This, in turn, only jolted more energy and desire into the Black Bears, who began to buzz ferociously.

A symbiotic relationship between team and crowd, unmatched by any other in college hockey. The team's front-footed play raises the crowd's energy levels, which in turn pushes the Black Bears on for more. A harmonious cycle from Maine, but a viscous whirlwind that can quickly spin out of control if you are the opposition with the deafening noise against you.

With the Wildcats struggling to keep their composure in the Alfond's cauldron, UNH took an undisciplined slashing penalty, sending Maine to the power play for the first time that evening. Similar to how the margins for error grow slimmer the deeper into the season we go, so does the importance of taking advantage of every slight edge given to you. The sheer importance of special teams come playoff time is no different.

Maine's power play, has gotten hot at the right time, scoring four goals in their last three games. This trend continued into Saturday night.

The top power-play unit of the two Nadeaus, Lynden Breen, Ben Poisson, and Brandon Chabrier, cycled the puck around the UNH end with poise and purpose. Eventually, Maine's overload of passing networks was too much for the Wildcats to handle, as a series of cutting, one-touch passes ended with Josh Nadeau rocketing a shot from the slot. Hellsten saved Josh's one-time effort but failed to hold on to the puck, which was left lying in the blue paint of the goal crease. Johnny-on-the-spot was Ben Poisson, whose great net-front establishment allowed the graduate student playing in his final game at the Alfond to pounce on the rebound, burying it with purpose.

Once again, bedlam among Black Bear Nation ensued as the Alfond chanted, "We've got two; how 'bout you?" Pertaining to both the current score and the number of National Championships each program has won, with Maine's second natty coming in a dramatic overtime thriller over these very Wildcats back in '99. It's important to remember the past; an understanding of history is never a bad thing.

The Wildcats, whose ears were ringing with hostile cheers, began to look flustered in a situation that was quickly spiraling out of control. Frustrated, UNH began barking at each other on the bench, and the Wildcats' body language began to show signs of a team crumbling under the pressure directed at them from both on and off the ice.

New Hampshire, even when given a power play of their own, failed to push back, unable to barely muster any threat going forward as the Black Bears' defense continued to purr with control. Maine's defense was terrific in limiting UNH chances, not allowing the Wildcats to pounce on loose pucks for secondary shots, and maintained their structure with unwavering focus and diligence.

Meanwhile, Maine's attack kept buzzing, cutting through the Wildcat defense with ease, completely outskating UNH who looked unable to raise their game out of the gutter to come anywhere near matching Maine's pace. The Wildcats looked totally unable to live with Maine's sheer ferocity and direct attacking play that looked destined to score every time they got the puck around Hellsten's net.

With every Black Bear on the ice playing some of their best periods of the season, seemingly everything Maine tried was coming off. First to just about every loose puck, coming away from battles against the boards most often with the puck, and continuing to make calm and sensible decisions to take care of the puck, the Black Bears were exuding confidence. Meanwhile, UNH looked completely devoid of any confidence and trust in their game plan, which was being torn to shreds by the Black Bears.

The Wildcats weren't looking very wild. Domesticated-scaredy-cats, more like.

With about five minutes left in the second, Maine tallied on another. New Hampshire could not release the pressure of extended Maine zone time to get fresh legs onto the ice. Nolan Renwick held the blueline, batting down a Wildcat clearance and keeping Maine on the attack. The elder of the Nadeaus, Josh, picked up the loose puck ricocheting off Renwick and tore towards the UNH net as if he had rocket boosters in his skates. Similar to Josh's opening goal that came from his brother luring the defenders towards him, leaving Josh all alone to receive the pass. This time Josh's dart into the slot and a nifty toe-drag for good measure attracted the Wildcat defenders, leaving Bradly all alone on the weak side to simply tap the puck into the back of the net. Tic-tac-toe as simple as you'd like, the Black Bears made everything look effortless.

UNH was falling apart, along with the hopes of their season continuing.

The overjoyed Alfond applauded their heroes off the ice for the second intermission. Nobody could believe their eyes. Everyone expected a strong Black Bear performance, but this was something else.

The boisterous crowd, expecting to endure an all-out UNH onslaught, strapped themselves in for the third period. They were sure that the Wildcats would throw everything but the kitchen sink at Boija in net.

But that New Hampshire siege never came, as the Wildcats looked completely devoid of energy, desire, and heart. They were being toyed with by the Black Bears, who continued to dominate UNH in every aspect of the game and in all areas of the ice. The Black Bears continued to pester the Wildcats with their aggressive forecheck to great success. This completely demoralized UNH, whose only response was to repeatedly take boneheaded penalties behind the play in retaliation to the embarrassment Maine was handing them.

The Black Bears' power play continued to fire on all cylinders, skating circles around the Wildcats. An extended stoppage due to a timeclock malfunction gave Maine the opportunity to draw up a play from the ensuing faceoff. The Black Bears struggled at the faceoff dot in the first period, but a huge reason they dominated the second and third periods was because they bore down and began winning the vast majority of faceoffs, restarting play with the puck more times than not.

Lynden Breen, who struggled on faceoffs at times in the beginning of the season, has come on leaps and bounds in this aspect, excelling at his centerman craft in recent weeks. Breen won the faceoff cleanly back to Bradly Nadeau. Brad went back up to the point, finding David Breazeale. The co-captain then went d-to-d with Luke Antonacci, who immediately sent the puck back to Breazeale. The junior d-man received the pass before opening his body to dish it to Bradly at his most lethal spot on the top of the right faceoff circle. Like he has done a million times in his young life, Maine's sole NHL draft pick scorched a rocket of a one-timer that glanced slightly off a UNH leg and past Hellsten. Ringing the Alfond's rafters yet again.

The crowd began taunting the despondent Wildcats with chants of "Still no hardware" and "Warm up the buses." The crowd took substantial joy from the antics of the visibly upset UNH bench, which continued to slam their sticks on the boards and scream at each other.

Maine would add insult to injury, putting the nail in UNH's season. Nolan Renwick, who has been so instrumental in the Nadeaus' late-season resurgence that was sparked back to life ever since he was put between the brothers, bodied his way into the New Hampshire end, refusing to be bullied off the puck. From the half-board, he found Bradly, who quickly found Josh on the weak side. Josh, who has elevated his game tenfold in recent weeks, put the cherry on top, slapping a howitzer of a one-timer into the net.

The Alfond stood applauding the dominant effort as the final seconds ticked down, sending the Black Bears to Boston to play in the Hockey East semifinals for the first time since 2012. At one end of the ice the Black Bears mobbed Boija, who never faltered, making every save he needed to make in another dominant performance from the freshman Swede. On the other hand, the Wildcats, slow to leave their bench, looked shell-shocked at the shellacking they had just been handed to them by a team they had completely dominated just a month prior.

How the tables had turned; redemption had never tasted so sweet.

The packed crowd still refused to stop applauding, soaking up every final moment at the Alfond this season. Cheering the team as they lapped around the rink, the Black Bears on the ice gave thanks to the Black Bears off, who just as adamantly returned that appreciation right back.

Barr and the coaching staff gave a big thumbs up to the Maniaks in the balcony before they exited the ice. He knows how influential the Alfond atmosphere can be. And we know how influential he already has been.

Harmonious and symbiotic, together, we can achieve anything. Together, we can achieve everything.

The Alfond saved its best for last this season as this magical ride continues down to Boston, where the Black Bears will be, back to playing on the big stage.

In the most dominant of displays, the Black Bears made easy work of the Wildcats through their sheer energy level, which could not be matched.

With the hearts of Black Bears, Maine is on a mission.

Where will the journey end? Who knows?

But what a story it has been; the most remarkable chapter may still yet be written.

Thank you Alfond Arena, there’s nothing better than you.