TD Garden was turned into Alfond South last season in Maine’s return to the Hockey East Championship Weekend for the first time since 2012. (Photo: Dmitri Chambers)

One if by land, two if by sea.

A single lantern shining atop the Old North Church steeple in Beantown’s North End warns Bostonians of the impending invasion of their city from the north.

Meanwhile, on Boston’s outskirts, Paul Revere, riding on horseback through the night, warns the locals: “The Black Bears are coming, the Black Bears are coming!”

It seems as though the entire State of Maine and their dog will be shipping down to Boston on Thursday, which is bracing for the mighty monsoon of blue and white that will flood Causeway Street and pack the TD Garden for the Hockey East Tournament semifinal.

Black Bear Nation is ready to turn Beantown back into Beartown.

“We’re fortunate to have the greatest fans on earth,” Head Coach Ben Barr said. “I’m sure there will be a lot of Mainers down there and a lot of blue jerseys.”

Alfond South awaits.

“We’re pumped, it’s going to be a special opportunity. We know right now that the hype is real, and it’s exciting. Our fans have been there for us all year round and were excited to go down to Boston and take it over,” Harrison Scott said.

Business trip

Although last season, Maine’s first trip to the Garden since 2012, ended in a disappointing 3-1 loss in the semifinals to BU, the majority-blue-clad crowd put the support for local schools Boston University, Boston College, and UMass to shame.

It’s no coincidence that Maine’s first trip to the Garden was also the first time the Hockey East Tournament semifinals had sold out since 2005.

That’s the Maine effect.

The frenzied fanaticism that Mainers have for their beloved Black Bears was on full display at the Garden last season. It was a revelatory experience for much of college hockey and even some of Maine’s own players, who, until then, hadn’t fully understood how much they mean to the state they proudly display on the front of their sweaters.

“What was very eye-opening was last year at the Garden against BU, more Maine fans were cheering there than there were Boston University fans, and I think that was the most eye-opening like ‘oh, Maine’s really rallying around us,’ and it was more of a home game for us as it should have been for them. That was such a special experience for us,” Scott recalled.

“It was super cool, the lights were bright, and it was an awesome experience, it was super fun. All we remember is standing on the goal line, getting ready for the game, and we’re in Boston, playing against Boston University, and they’re playing a BU hype video on the screen, and the Maine fans are just booing, just taking over the Garden. I thought it was awesome and inspirational. It got me fired up to play, and I’m expecting the same thing this year,” Brandon Holt said.

Last year’s trip to the Hockey East semifinals and subsequent NCAA Tournament appearance were the high points of a remarkable renaissance season for the program, with many of the traveling Alfonders just happy to see their team back to competing on the big stage.

But now, Black Bear Nation yearns for Maine to take that next step.

Last season’s journey to Boston was partially leisure, this year, it’s entirely a business trip.

The task at hand: win two games and bring the Lamoriello Trophy back to its rightful place in Orono for the first time since 2004 and the sixth time in program history.

“It’s awesome to have the opportunity to play at TD Garden again, but this year, we’re looking to take care of business,” Holt said. “This is kind of the moment we’ve been building for this entire season, so I think the excitement’s kind of reaching its peak at this point. This is what we’ve been working for; this is the moment we want.”

Maine’s dressing room has many of the same cast of characters who played their hearts out last season but fell to BU’s lethal power play. For many of these players, it was their first time competing in front of a crowd of that size. Now, having that indispensable experience of playing in an NHL arena in their back pocket and having seen firsthand the scale of hoopla and hubbub that surrounds a Hockey East Tournament Championship Weekend, the Black Bears know exactly what to expect when playing in the limelight.

There’s one thing nobody can teach, and that’s experience.

“We actually played pretty well at the Garden but lost to BU. Hopefully, you learn from those experiences, and we have a lot of guys that are here on this team that went through those experiences last year, and hopefully, you can take that with you and learn from it,” Barr said. “I don’t think we played poorly in the game, but it wasn’t good enough.

Maine will also look back on their shortcomings at this stage last year as extra motivation, hungry to rewrite the wrongs and finally get the bitter taste of last season’s heartbreaking ending out of their mouths. 

“We didn’t get the job done. It was disappointing, and we had to sit on that for five months, to think about it and grow from it.” Barr said before the season began. “That left a sting; we felt that we were right there.”

The Black Bears will look to build on last season’s TD Garden experience and take the next step by bringing home the program’s sixth Hockey East Tournament championship and first title since 2004. (Photo: Dmitri Chambers)

Maintaining momentum

To truly consider yourself among those at the pinnacle of college hockey in New England, you have to be able to win at its shrine: the Garden.

No ifs, buts, or maybes.

It’s not something Maine has done since a 5-2 semifinal victory over BU in 2012. Getting their Beantown blues off their back would be a monumental step forward, marking Black Bear hockey’s return to the established elite.

It’s weekends like this that separate pretends from true contenders.

Meanwhile, Maine’s opponents for the second semifinal on Thursday night, the Northeastern Huskies, are as well-versed as any on how to win at TD Garden. With their campus located just three miles away, the Garden is a home away from home for them. Playing in the Beanpot every year, a tournament they have won 5 times in the last seven years, Northeastern has had significant success on Garden ice under fourth-year Head Coach Jerry Keefe, winning five of nine contests the Huskies have played at TD Garden under Keefe.

Maine has excelled at Fortress Alfond this season but has never quite been able to match that same style of game on the road, unable to routinely deliver the same intensity, identity, and performance levels when away from the Alfond. Doing so this weekend under New England hockey’s brightest lights will be the ultimate challenge.

“This time of the year, it takes everything clicking; we had that the other night at the Alfond [where] it’s different for us. So we go on the road and need the same thing; that’s a totally different challenge for everybody, not just us. It’s a totally different environment; I’m sure it will be great. We’re comfortable here, but can we go down there and be comfortable playing the same way? That’s our challenge,” Barr explained.

Northeastern is also much more used to TD Garden’s zonal dimensions, which, following the NHL standard, are slightly different than college hockey’s. While the actual ice sheet is the same as the Alfond’s, NHL rinks have slightly larger offensive and defensive zones with a marginally smaller neutral zone. While the slight difference isn’t significant, it does take a little bit of time to get used to, and it is something Northeastern has already done twice this year in the Beanpot.

“It might feel a little different in terms of the timing of things, the flow of it with the lines in different areas, and the neutral zone is smaller, less space behind nets, but you don’t really think about it, and you just try and go get a quality skate on it and get the timing of it to be honest,” Barr explained.

Playing virtually in their own backyard, the Huntington Avenue Hounds, a #9 seed in Hockey East, is a team oozing with confidence and self-belief. They outlasted Merrimack away from home in a double-overtime thriller in the first round, then delivered a shocking quarterfinal upset over the #1 team in the country, Boston College. Northeastern enters the weekend in soaring fashion  on a wave of momentum, brimming with confidence and playing their best hockey of the year. Go figure.

“They’re playing great, they've been good all year,” Barr warned. “They didn’t get some results that they wanted to start [the season], but they are one of the more talented teams in our league. It’s going to be the same type of game as every game we’ve played in the second half.”

It’s been a strange season for the Huskies; consistently inconsistent Northeastern has been up-and-down for most of the year. This season, Northeastern has lost to the likes of Denver twice, UNH twice, Boston College by a score of 8-2, Harvard 4-3, UMass 5-0, and UConn twice by an aggregate score of 12-3. But the Huskies have also won impressively in the regular season over Quinnipiac twice, BC 4-2, UMass 3-0, and BU 5-1.

Having been unable to string together four wins in a row all season, Northeastern, currently on a two-game winning run, is playing its best hockey at the most important time of the year.

“It’s been a tough year. The regular season was a tough year for us. We had higher expectations to be in a different position as far as Pairwise and all that,” Keefe said. “So proud of the group because they’ve stuck together through it, and they're a confident group right now.”

On the outside of the bubble looking in, the Huskies, #23 in the Pairwise, know that their only shot at a National Tournament berth is through an automatic qualifier by winning the Hockey East Tournament.

It’s truly win-or-go-home time for Northeastern, who has been playing to fight another day for the past two games now. Playing with house money, Northeastern will come out fearless and with nothing to lose.

“They’re playing for their season; they’re not going to hold anything back. They’re going to be a desperate team; they’re going to put everything they have on the line because they’re fighting for every single day,” Holt said.

“They’re desperate, but we’re desperate,” Scott added.

Ending a team’s season is the single hardest thing to do in sports, and Maine, who sent the UMass-Lowell River Hawks to the golf course last weekend with a resounding 7-1 quarterfinals victory, know they will once again need close to their best performance of the season to put the final nail in the Huskies’ coffin. That’s just the way it will be from here on out.

This season, the Black Bears have struggled significantly to string together complete performances on consecutive weekends. Frequently unable to build on their momentum and continue to take steps forward after an impressive performance, Maine’s play has often plateaued or even taken a step back.

Maine’s scorching red-hot start to the season hit a wall when Boston College swept them in November. Fast forward to just after the New Year, Maine turned in complete performances and an inspirational win over the defending National Champions Denver, followed by a mature sweep away at Lowell, but then took a backward step by losing and trying to Connecticut on home ice.

Then, after managing to sneak out results by the skin of their teeth as January flipped to February, Black Bear Nation hoped that a four-goal third-period barrage to beat UNH would be just the thing to jolt Maine down the stretch. Instead, Maine had a poor showing in Storrs, losing to UConn in overtime with an unremarkable performance.

Finally, the Black Bears erupted for a Senior Weekend sweep over Vermont, but the following weekend at UMass, they were back to square one, with a harrowing 5-1 loss and bipolar 2-2 tie with the Minutemen.

So, after thundering to an electric 7-1 thumping of the River Hawks last weekend, Maine has one more chance to prove that they can consistently perform to their highest potential in consecutive games and back-to-back weekends.

Still waiting for that jumping-off point to springboard Maine into the stratosphere. Could this weekend be it?

“The guys, they played well [against Lowell], it was a step in the right direction, now it’s on to the next game. We haven’t consistently strung together real efficient games in the second half, so we have to do that this time of the year. It’ll be no different in a couple of days on Thursday against Northeastern,” Barr said.

For the Black Bears to win the Hockey East Championship on Friday night, they will have to string together their first three-game winning streak since early January. 

And if they are to make Mainers’ dreams come true and win both Hockey East and the National Tournament, will have to end their season on a seven-game winning run. Their season-high is four.

Howlin’ Huskies

Playing with both bark and bite for the first prolific period all season, the battle-hardened Huskies suffocated the elite-caliber Boston College offense. They held  the highly-skilled soaring scorers Ryan Leonard, Game Perrault, Andrea Gasseu, and Teddy Stiga all goalless for the first time in a game since January 10th with James Hagens the only Eagle to get on to the scoreboard.

To accomplish this upset victory that sent shockwaves across the college hockey landscape, the Huskies clogged the neutral zone with a conservative forechecking trap that forced Boston College’s skill players to take hits to make plays, gain the redline, dump pucks in, and retrieve possession by playing hard-nosed, blue-collar hockey — not a style that Boston College particularly enjoys. Northeastern was patient, didn’t stray out of position, and was opportunistic during BC's mistakes, making the most of their three goals on 20 shots on net.

But don’t expect Northeastern to play the same conservative style against the forechecking, physical-loving, hard-hitting Black Bears, who have shown signs of weakness when their style of play is served right back to them.

“Those are going to be two keys to the game: which team breaks the puck out well and which team can get in on the forecheck,” Keefe explained.

In Maine’s three looks at Northeastern this season, a win and a tie down at Matthews Arena in October and a Black Bear win at the Alfond in late February, the Huskies’ offensive generation has usually come on odd-man rushes where Northeastern’s skill and speed were able to scamper through the middle of Maine’s defensive structure. For the Black Bears, holding on to pucks high in the offensive zone and neutral zone, keeping extra support behind the play, not getting caught in between on pinches down the wall, making sure to get shots through traffic and not blocked and deflected up ice, and keeping the game in front of them with plenty of bodies between the puck and Boija’s net will all be crucial to limiting Northeastern’s speed and skill.

The Black Bears have won twice and tied once in Maine’s three meetings with Northeastern this season. (Photo: UMaine Athletics)

In goal for the Huskies, #39 Cameron Whitehead (2.742 GAA 0.910 SV %) has had a bounce-back second half of the season, returning to last year’s form by stopping 30 of 31 of the Eagles’ shots, which held Boston College to three goals or less in a game for only the third time this season.

Northeastern’s 3.0 goals-against average is tied for 37th in the country (Maine's 1.9 GAA is 3rd), their 28.5 shots-against average is tied for 38th best (Maine’s 25.1 SAA is T-6th), while their 71.1% penalty kill is 49th in the country (Maine’s 84.3 PK% is 10th).

Although Northeastern’s overarching defensive statistics don’t look too daunting since allowing 12 goals in a weekend to Connecticut, Whitehead and the Huskies’ defense hasn’t allowed more than three goals in a game in four games now. Defense wins championships, and if the Huskies are to get their hands on the Lamarillo Trophy, it’s going to be Whitehead leading the charge.

“We have a lot of confidence in him, and he seems like he's playing his best hockey. And that's what you want. You want your team feeling that way. You want your goaltender feeling that way. This is the time of year that it matters the most, and right now, we feel like we've got a heck of a goalie that's playing at the top of his game,” Keefe said.

Offensively, it’s a less straightforward path for Northeastern. Keefe possesses some of the top-end forwards in the country with the highly dangerous top-line of wingers #12 Cam Lund (17g-21a-38pts) and #13 Dylan Hryckowian (16g-25a-35pts) and Biddeford native centerman #15 Jack Williams (16g-25a-41pts). 

“He’s kind of the heart and soul of their team. He plays hard, he’s a good player, he scores, he makes plays,” Barr said of Williams. “He’s the guy that stirs the drink for him.”

But after this top-line (which accounts for over half of Northeastern’s goals), reliable offensive production drops off a clip with second-liners #14 Joe Connor (7g-9a-16pts), #29 Christophe Tellier (5g-13a-18pts), and defenseman #22 Vinny Borgessi rounding out Northeastern’s reliable producers.

Meanwhile, Maine, most recently erupting to seven goals from seven different goalscorers, has three forward lines that can drive the bus for Maine’s offense as well as a fourth line that has been playing its best hockey of the season as of late, scoring four goals in the last five games. While Northeastern has nine players with double-digit point totals, Maine has 14 — four of whom are defensemen. 

“It’s just the pucks going in at the right time for us, and it feels good. Everyone is getting a touch of the pill, getting on the scoresheet,” Scott said.

“Pucks are going in; everyone is feeling good; we were playing the right way, playing fast, hard, aggressive, scoring on the power play, scoring five on five, killing penalties; I think that’s what you want going into the playoffs,” Holt said.

Northeastern’s offense is extremely top-heavy, while Maine is the opposite, totally balanced. With Maine being the higher seed and designated as the home team, the first time the Black Bears will rep the home whites at the Garden, Barr will get the last line change and be able to match up lines to his liking. 

Scott believes that Maine’s strength in depth and their will to win is an advantage to his team.

“Through and through, I think we have more depth than them. They have a skilled couple of guys, but when it comes down to it, our culture, our character, our team is going to take down whatever skill they have. We’re skilled too; we make plays, but it’s going to come down to that work ethic,” Scott said.

But as Barr adds, Maine’s advantage in depth is only an advantage if you make it one.

“Our depth is our strength, but our depth is only our depth if everyone is playing well and you play well defensively against their top guys. It can be an advantage if we let it be, or it can be a disadvantage if we let it be,” Barr warned.

So while Northeastern’s way forward might be down to Whitehead’s heroics, Maine’s path to a championship will have to be through their depth, everybody playing their part, doing their job, and keeping the Black Bears’ rope tight and unyielding.

All Bears going, all the time, no shifts off.

The Maine ship requires all hands on deck, everyone grabbing a line or holding an oar.

“It takes everybody, it takes everybody playing well. We don’t need heroes. Somebody can be a hero each night if they want to score that goal or make that play that is a difference maker for us, but we need everyone playing well. We had that on Saturday, and we’re going to need it again on Thursday. That’s what it takes. It starts with our goalie, all six or seven D playing well, and we need four lines going. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance,” Barr explained.

Playing for respect

Although the Black Bears finished the regular season in second place and #3 in the National Pairwise, Maine has still been under-recognized this season. Many of Maine’s players were overlooked for Hockey East’s individual accolades as no Black Bears were featured on Hockey East’s First Team All-Stars, with Albin Boija only a Second Team All-Star and Brandon Holt a Third Team All-Star, the lone Maine skater to be represented.

The message out of the Black Bears’ dressing room is: “Maine against the world.”

“We have an underdog mentality every night; a lot of people don’t respect us, and we’re cut out to get our respect,” Frank Djurasevic said immediately after Maine’s victory over Lowell last weekend.

On top of this, Barr was snubbed for the second-consecutive season for the Hockey East Bub Kullen Coach of the Year Award, losing to BC’s Greg Brown and his 14 NHL Draft picks last season and UConn’s Mike Cavanaugh’s three NHL Draft picks and fourth-place Hockey East finish for this season’s award.

They can have their individual accolades, Maine is a team and want the only trophy that matters.

“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. What he’s done for this program and where he’s brought it in the past couple of years is just unprecedented. He’s taken a group of guys where maybe we’re overlooked at times, and he’s brought them together and brought a culture of winning,” Holt said about Barr’s nomination for the award.

The Black Bears play a team game, and that along with Maine’s geographical remoteness mean their successes are often overshadowed by the Boston-area teams that make up most of the league.

“We’re kind of way up north here, kind of on our own, and all of the other schools are in and around Boston, so maybe we get forgotten about a little bit. And we haven’t been atop of the ranking in a few years, so it’s awesome to get some attention now, and the whole state of Maine is running behind us; it’s kind of putting Maine on the map again,” Holt said.

But the Black Bears want to be overlooked; they want to be doubted, and they welcome it. Much of their identity is rooted in embracing the role of the underdog, as they tend to play their best when they have a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove.

We’re just using everything that we can to light the fire even hotter and give us more juice. We like being the underdogs; that’s our game, and we’re going to take it to whoever we got,” Scott said. “It’s just focusing on what we have to do when we’re playing with that underdog mentality when everyone’s doubting us, everyone doesn’t think we’re going to do it, but it’s kind of Maine versus everyone right now, and we’re excited.”

Playing to the same workman, lunch-pail, hard-hat style of the state they represent, these Black Bears have truly embraced Maine’s blue-collar culture as a core piece to their identity.

“I think there’s just a blue-collar mentality when you come up and play at Maine, you don’t think of BC or BU guys having that blue-collar mentality, and I think that’s something we take pride in,” Holt explained.

Let them doubt us, let them forget about us, the Black Bears are lurking in the shadows, Maine wouldn’t want it anyother way.

Taylor Makar’s two goals were instrumental in Maine’s 3-1 victory over Northeastern on January 31st. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

Focusing on themselves

 Given the attention and commotion that surrounds the Hockey East Championship Weekend, playing at the enormous venue that is TD Garden in the bright lights of downtown Boston, all while maintaining focus on the task at hand, is paramount for all the participating teams. Having been here last season, the Black Bears shouldn’t be over-awed or intimidated by the experience.

They’ve been here before and they’ve shown that they can perform on this stage well. After all, these are the types of positions and the moment they’ve been working towards since falling to Cornell in the NCAA Regionals last season.

These are the moments they live for. We all do.

“It’s all right in front of us, but this is what we’ve been building towards all year, it’s what we’ve been looking forward to all year, this is the best part, this is the most fun part,” Scott said. “It’s just going to come down to the little things, the little details, and it’s about managing the game in our heads, not getting too worried about the external pressure, the noise, it’s fun, but it comes down to being locked in, being focused on what you need to do to win and what we need to do to win and it’s all about what we got in our room”

The Black Bears truly believe that as long as they play to their identity, play their game, and play to their best ability, they can beat anyone in the country and achieve everything imaginable.

They believe that the only ones who can beat them are themselves.

“We don’t care who’s in front of us, who we play, we have to focus on us. If we run into a shitty situation where we’re beating ourselves, that’s it. We’re not going to let anyone beat us; that’s kind of our mindset, going against whoever it’s going to be; we’re going to prepare and just do what we do,” Lynden Breen said after Maine’s quarterfinal victory over Lowell.

But the Black Bears are a process-oriented team. They aren’t focused on winning or not winning the Hockey East title this weekend. 

“We obviously want to win, but we can’t win if we’re focused on the outcome. I think the process comes first, especially going into this weekend, we can’t be caught up in all of the external factors: the bigger venue, it’s TD Garden and all of that kind of stuff, it’s just we’re going to have to focus on ourselves and just play our best hockey. It’s all about managing our focus right now at this time of the season; it’s tournament time, there’s just a lot of different factors involved,” Scott said.

After all, if the Black Bears are able to get past Northeastern, they will be tasked with the mighty endeavor of a championship game against their Achilles heel, Connecticut, or their blue-blooded bitter rivals, Boston University, who play in Thursday’s first semifinal, which are the two of the hottest teams in college hockey at the moment.

“You can’t look forward to that; you can only look forward to Thursday night and playing our best game. If we do that, you give yourself another opportunity, hopefully. This time of the year, we know what we’re trying to do, we’ve put ourselves in a position to do it, so Thursday night is the focus,” Barr said.

One game at a time, one step at a time, win on Thursday, and then Black Bear Nation can truly start to dream of championship glories.

Batten down the hatches, Boston; the Alfonders are coming and are ready to paint the town blue.

Does it get any better than this?

Take care of business, Black Bears.