Hockey East Championship Weekend Preview

Black Bear Nation set to turn TD Garden into Alfond South, faceoff with Boston University in semifinal.

As Paul Revere once famously warned Bostonians, "The Black Bears are coming!"

The Boston forecast is bracing for impact this weekend, expecting a blue tsunami to flood the streets of Beantown.

Thousands of Mainers from all corners of the Pine Tree State and beyond are set to invade from the north, marching down I-95 to turn Boston's TD Garden into Alfond South.

It will be a party-like atmosphere from the swarms of Black Bear Nation, celebrating their beloved Black Bears' long-awaited return to the mecca of New England Hockey.

It's been a long twelve years since Maine has last been in the Hockey East semifinals, during which they've been stuck, drowning in mediocrity or worse on a yearly basis, which has turned the long, dark Maine winters even more depressing. If you were to tell any Mainiak in attendance at the Black Bears' last game at the Garden that it would be the final time one of the most storied programs in college hockey graced the Hockey East semifinals for twelve years, nobody would have believed you.

However, the first glimmer of light on the eastern horizon appeared three years ago when Ben Barr was named head coach of the blue-blooded program. While Barr's first two seasons at the ship's helm was absorbed in the slow rebuild of a struggling program, the 2023/24 season has jolted the team into a Maine renaissance.

The Alfonders are dreaming again.

Already having their best season in over a decade, the Maine Black Bears have given themselves the opportunity to turn this magical year into one of the most memorable in Maine's history.

The late-season slump that had the Black Bears stumbling down the stretch with just three wins in nine games is now a fading memory of the past.

The slump poked the sleeping bear out of hibernation, who has gone on a hungry tear ever since.

Four statement victories in a row later, including the most poetic of pummelings over bitter border rival New Hampshire last weekend in the conference quarterfinals, the Black Bears are entering this weekend brimming with confidence and back to looking like their early-season best. Perhaps even better.

Standing in the way of an appearance in the Hockey East Championship on Saturday is a Friday night date with the formidable Boston University Terriers. Last season's conference champions, BU are in prime position to not only repeat as holders of the Lamarillo Trophy but will be expecting to make a deep run in the National Tournament as well.

Nationally ranked as the #2 in the country, the Terriers are as deep in playoff experience as they are in NHL draft picks. Fourteen of BU's current roster has their rights owned by NHL teams. This isn't including freshman phenom #71 Macklin Celebrini, who, only at the age of seventeen, is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever grace the college hockey landscape and is heads and shoulders the favorite to be picked #1 overall in this summer's draft.

Meanwhile, Maine only has one NHL draft pick, freshman Bradly Nadeau, a first-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes.

TD Garden is like a second home for the Terriers. Already with the experience of playing at the Garden in the annual Beanpot and in last season's Hockey East tournament, BU is extremely experienced and comfortable playing at the big NHL building in their backyard.

Meanwhile, for every single Black Bear, playing in the spotlight of an NHL building will be a brand-new experience. One that they will have to quickly get used to.

A true David versus Goliath matchup.

Although this year's rejuvenation of the program is the talk of the town for Mainers, the national and regional media have barely given the Black Bears a thought. Most media voices have already prematurely jumped the gun, previewing Saturday's Championship Game to be a Battle of Commonwealth Ave between the top two teams in the country, BU and BC.

This Boston-centralized fixation has not just blatantly overlooked any Black Bear prospects this weekend but has also completely disregarded Maine with its handling of this season's conference awards. In particular, the decision to award the Hockey East Coach of the Year award to Boston College's Greg Brown instead of Maine's Ben Barr. Boston College, with Brown at the wheel, has fourteen NHL draft picks at its disposal and was predicted by fellow conference coaches before the season started to finish in second. They finished first.

Barr, on the other hand, has built one of the most threatening teams in the country. With only one draft pick, they were predicted to finish the season ninth in Hockey East. They finished third.

The people's coach of the year.

But let them disrespect us. Let them underestimate us.

When at their best, Maine has bought into an underdog mentality, which has been central to the team's identity and culture. Early in the season, when the Black Bears weren't on anybody's radar, Maine was able to shock the nation with upset wins over the likes of Quinnipiac, the defending National Champions, and BC, the #1 team in the nation. Once the country took notice of the great strides Maine was taking, the opposition stiffened up. The Black Bears struggled to break down heavy, physical teams focused on maintaining their defensive structure, intent on limiting Maine's high-flying offense before hitting the Black Bears on the break. But, once the opposition sides felt more confident that the Black Bears could be beaten, they opened up. At the same time, Maine raised their game to the next level, taking advantage of their opponent's confidence.

Hopefully, the Black Bears can catch BU prematurely, looking ahead to a potential Championship Game with their big rivals, BC. The Terriers did sweep the Black Bears over two games at Agganis Arena in November, but Maine can enter Friday's contest with the lived experience and confidence that they can skate with BU.

Those games earlier in the season ended 3-2 and 5-4, respectively, with Maine holding their own, going for the most part punch-for-punch with the Terrier's high-octane offense. The Black Bears showed they would not be intimidated, taking it to BU for large stretches of both games. The only clear dominance BU held over Maine that weekend was special teams' execution, especially the Terrier's power play, which ripped Maine apart and was the primary separator between the two teams. While Maine's special teams have increased their effectiveness significantly in the past few weeks, the Black Bears must stay as disciplined as possible to not give the dangerous Terrier powerplay too many opportunities.

To deal with BU's apparent on-paper advantage, Maine must once again play fearless. This will be easier said than done, especially with the increased hoopla that comes with playing at the Garden. Limiting the distractions that come with playing on the big stage and maintaining the underdog mindset that has taken Maine so far will be critical for the Black Bears to not play timid but rather with steely confidence. Barr stressed on the midweek Black Bear Coaches Show that the team with superior mental performance often comes out on top in big playoff games like these.

To help close the gap between the two teams, Maine will need to do all the little things brilliantly. Details such as finishing checks, establishing their forecheck early, taking care of the puck, and backchecking doggedly will be vital if Maine is to have any shot at an upset and an appearance in Saturday's Championship.

Boston University's offense, which can pick apart even the best defenses through their frighteningly efficient wheel-and-dealing attack off the rush and embarrassment of scoring riches, must be limited in transition. These details, such as finishing checks and taking care of the puck, will be critical to keep the Black Bears in position between the puck and Maine's net. If Maine starts to miss their hits, allowing BU to take the positional advantage or make poor choices with the puck, therefore catching the Black Bears out of position on the wrong side of the puck, it will be a long night for the Blue.

The Black Bears must keep their focus at all times, maintaining their defensive support and structure even when they have the puck, to stop the outrageously talented Terrier offensive juggernaut, which pounces ruthlessly on mistakes and gets up the ice in a flash.

But no matter how successful the Black Bears are in limiting BU chances, Maine's freshman goaltender Albin Boija will need to come up with big saves, bailing out the Black Bears as the Terrier's attack is just too deadly to be kept quiet for an entire sixty minutes.

BU will score. That is a guarantee.

The Terriers haven't been shut out at all this season, and considering the fact that Macklin Celebrini is currently on a red-hot goal streak with seven goals and five assists in his last five games, it is expected that BU will certainly score more than just one. Other dangerous Terrier scoring threats to watch out for are Celibrini's linemates #18 Shane Lachance and #12 Jack Harvey. The Hutson brothers #17 Quinn and #20 Lane must also be tightly defended all game.

On the other side of the puck, the Black Bears will have an equally difficult task in creating enough offense of their own to match BU's. Terrier goaltender #62 Matthieu Caron and the defense in front of him have stiffened significantly since they last played the Black Bears. BU has only allowed seven goals in their last ten games and is currently tied for the fifth-best team in the country at limiting goals.

But we were saying this same thing last weekend when UNH came into the quarterfinal game at the Alfond, having not given up a goal in over nine periods of play before Maine blitzed them, getting five past the Wildcats.

For Maine to keep their offensive momentum going and be able to go blow-for-blow with BU, the Black Bears will need their scoring to come from depth pieces, not just their top goal threats. A total of 32% of Maine's goals have come from the Nadeau brothers this season. While both have heated up tremendously of late, with Bradly and Josh both netting three goals and three assists in their past three games, much of Maine's February struggles coincided with the brothers scoring touch cooling off significantly. In the six games previous to Maine's current four-game winning streak, Brad only secured three points, with Josh only putting up two.

So, while it's fantastic that both of them have elevated their game tremendously in recent weeks, it is expected that BU, the higher-seed getting the last line change, will most likely match up their suffocating fourth line with the Nadeaus. Perhaps one of the most difficult lines to play against in the nation, #11 Luke Tuch, #13 Dylan Peterson, and #25 Sam Stevens will truly test Maine's most potent goal-scorers.

Maine must get scoring from their other lines if they are to stand a chance.

To find success on the East Coast of the College Hockey landscape, you have to win in Boston. Something Maine hasn't been able to do this year, falling in all three contests in Beantown.

But these Black Bears are on a roll, checking off item after item from their to-do list. Already in their first conference semifinal since 2012, locked to make their first NCAA Tournament appearance in twelve years, and with their fanbase, the most energized it has been since the late '90s and early 2000s, nobody in Black Bear Nation is counting out magical Maine from striking again.

From a fan's perspective, any victories still to come will feel like a bonus on top of an already legendary season that has surpassed all of our dreams and expectations. But Maine's players and staff are still hungry, with their eyes set on the big prizes, determined to bring hardware back home over the Piscataqua River.

It'll be all business for the Black Bears down in Boston.

They believe they can win it all, and so should we.

Together, we can accomplish anything.

Time to turn Beantown blue.

Time to turn the Garden into Alfond South.