No bark nor bite.

The Massachusetts Minutemen handed the Maine Black Bears its worst loss of the season on Friday night at the Mullins Center in Amherst, completely overpowering Maine 5-1 on the scoreboard while also dominating the game’s processions on the ice.

After sweeping Vermont in the penultimate regular season series last weekend, Maine virtually clinched a one seed in the NCAA Tournament as the 4th best team in the Pairwise with a rather sizeable Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) lead over #5 Western Michigan. The Black Bears had also already sealed up a bye in the First Round of the Hockey East Tournament, clinching second place in the standings with an outside chance of stealing the regular season crown from Boston College.

For Maine, this weekend was to be much more about dialing their performances into playoff mode, ramping up their game for the most important time of the season, rather than necessarily churning out results.

The Black Bears got neither, as the turgid play matched the harrowing scoreline.

“We’re a long way away from where we need to be going into the most important time of the year,” Head Coach Ben Barr stated bluntly.

Meanwhile, for the Minutemen, it was their most important weekend of the season, and they played like it.

UMass entered the weekend #12 in the all-important Pairwise that emulates the selection for the 16-team National Tournament as well as being in 6th place in Hockey East. With 1st through 5th place avoiding the First Round singe-elimination game on Wednesday, the Minutemen were desperate for three points and a bump in the Pairwise.

Already in playoff mode, Massachusetts played with desperation, endless energy, and a level of intensity head and shoulders above Maine’s, who came out of the gates flat, lethargic, and frankly uninterested. The Minutemen were living and dying with every shift, while the Black Bears seemed to be already looking ahead to their home Quarterfinal game next Saturday.

The Black Bears played as though their bellies were full and satisfied while the Minutemen competed like starving dogs fighting over the last scrap of meat.

The fact that UMass blocked fifteen shots compared to Maine’s four (their lowest total of the season) reflects the Minutemen’s far superior desire and willingness to do whatever it took to help the team win.

“Guys are blocking shots; guys are eating pucks. That’s what you want to see this time of year,” UMass’ Cole O’Hara said. “We’re just trying to make the tournament; that’s all you’re trying to do this time of the year. Anything to get those three points.”

O’Hara is one of the top scorers in the country; his two goals on Friday bumped the junior from Ontario to 49 points on the season, the second most in the nation. It also tied the likes of UMass alumnus Bobby Trivigno and Cale Makar’s single-season points record. O’Hara is now only three points shy of surpassing James Marcou for the most points in a season in the program’s history.

But it was O’Hara’s team-leading four blocked shots on Friday that was equally impressive. For Massachusetts’ most highly-skilled player to put his body on the line as many times as the entire Maine team did sums up the sizeable gap between the two teams' competition levels perfectly.

“It’s quite energetic when those guys who score our goals block the shots,” UMass’ Head Coach Greg Carvel said.

Reflecting their Minutemen namesake, before many of the Mullins Maniacs had settled into their seats, Massachusetts had already pulled away to a 2-0 advantage. Cole O’Hara scored UMass’ first of the evening 2:52 into the contest after the Minutemen’s forecheck smothered the Black Bears off the puck, worked the puck up to the point to defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce, whose shot snuck by Josh Nadeau’s missed block and was deftly deflected in by O’Hara streaking unmarked laterally through the slot.

All week long, the word coming out of Maine’s dressing room was an emphasis on moving their feet. A simple aspect, but a crucial one, the Black Bears were woeful in this detail during the first period, as UMass could simply skate past the flatfooted Black Bears time and again. This was very prevalent when Harrison Scott got caught behind his defensive assignment and took his first of two holding penalties of the game, an uncharacteristic trait from Scott to take two lazy penalties. All night long, Maine had a lot of players not moving their feet, and instead, they were left hacking and whacking at the Minutemen racing past them.

Kenny Connors made the most of UMass’ first power play, taking the puck off the half-wall into acres of open ice, skating above the right faceoff circle before ripping a shot from an open lane through Maine’s defense, which was screening Albin Boija from ever seeing the puck.

Down by two just 7:09 into the contest, Maine had dug themselves a mighty hole to climb out of in the blink of an eye.

“I thought that our details for the first five, ten minutes of the game were horrible. We don’t block shots, we don’t finish a line change, they score two goals, and we fight the whole game. You can’t do that against a really good team,” Barr said. “Last week of the regular season, and we’re not mature enough to play the right way to start the game.”

In Maine’s 17 games played since returning from Christmas Break, the Black Bears have given up the game’s first goal 11 times, routinely putting themselves behind the eight-ball. Compared to falling behind in just four of their first 16 games of the year, this worrisome trend is not the sign of a championship-caliber team as they keep making things harder for themselves by constantly playing from behind.

When Maine defeated UMass at the Alfond on February 2nd, aside from a last-minute save of the season snag by Albin Boija, according to Carvel, the biggest difference was the Black Bears simply executing better at the netfront. This was certainly not the case on Friday, especially on the defensive side of the puck, as Maine routinely failed to clear their netfront, allowing the Minutemen to bully themselves in front of Boija all evening long. Meanwhile, Maine could not get to Michael Hrabel’s net with any consistency whatsoever. Barr stated that Maine’s lack of netfront presence at their own end was a “major issue” on top of everything else going wrong for the Black Bears.

Massachusetts’ third goal of the first period, coming in the final minute of the frame, was yet again created by problems on Boija’s doorstep. Three Black Bears were caught puck-watching, covering just one Minuteman at the near post. Blueliner Lucas Olvestad threw a harmless puck toward the net from the point, once again past Nadeau, who again failed to block the shot from his defensive assignment at the point. Olvestad’s shot ricocheted off of Boija, who couldn’t see the puck until the last second, being screened by his own defenseman Grayson Arnott. The puck kicked out to Jack Musa, all alone lurking in front of the crease, who could simply tap UMass into a 3-0 first-period lead.

This season, Maine has only been down by three goals once. That deficit came in their Sunday afternoon loss at Boston College back in November when Andre Gasseau scored BC’s third of the game, an empty netter with just seven seconds remaining in the game.

Uncharted territory, Maine, was put in a position they have practically never been in this year, down by a lot, but with plenty of hockey still to play. The response needed to comeback wasn’t there and never came, as the Black Bears came out for the second period equally as disjointed, languid, and completely without the work ethic their identity solely resolves around.

Without any of the usual hop, skip, and jump in their step, Maine looked to be skating through molasses, never able to work up a head of steam for any real consistency as the Minutemen continued to out-hit, out-skate, out-work, and out-compete the Black Bears in all three zones.

Just 21 seconds into the middle frame, it was the extra-skater and older Musa brother, Joey, who gave the Minutemen a four-goal cushion. The senior who transferred from Dartmouth this season popped a backhanded shot from a tight-angle in-close past Boija for his first goal in the maroon and white of Massachusetts.

For the Minutemen, who have struggled at times early in games this season, a 4-0 lead over the #4 team in the country just 20:21 into the contest shot boatloads of confidence into their veins as UMass purred and buzzed with the game’s momentum entirely in their back pockets.

“We’ve been working all year on trying to play a full sixty, and the start is the most important part. Coming out strong really got us going, and it helped having that momentum going into the second, and even when they were pushing, we had a little bit of a cushion,” Joey Musa said.

Maine did indeed have their moments of offensive pressure, usually through forcing turnovers on UMass’ breakout passes up the walls by sealing the half-boards with a Black Bear winger. But other than the fourth line somewhat consistently churning out productive shifts of offensive zone time, Maine’s top three lines could never really follow their lead. While it is positive that fourth-liners Nicholas Niemo, Thomas Pichette, and Oskar Komarov showed a good account of themselves offensively, it’s not a great sign for the team when the fourth line is creating the most offense for the team with Pichette’s five shots on goal leading the team.

Throughout the game, no matter how woeful Maine was playing, they still kept pace with Massachusetts in terms of shots on net and eventually surpassed UMass, ending the game with 39 Maine shots on goal compared to the Minutemen’s 32. But compared to Massachusetts’ chances in highly dangerous areas of the ice, many of Maine’s came from either pot shots from the point or hopeful looks from out wide. Of the Black Bears’ 39 shots on net, 15 of which came from their defensemen, another signifier for the lack of substance of chances Maine generated.

Aside from a Charlie Russell snipe early in the third period to cut Maine’s deficit back to three, the traveling Black Bear fans didn’t have much to cheer about on Friday and retreated to the exits when O’Hara scored his second of the night midway through the third. Frank Djurasevic fired a shot into the O’Hara’s breadbasket, who then raced up the ice, completely blowing past Djurasevic, who was slow from the jump, looking like he was skating through mud. Meanwhile, Russell didn’t backcheck particularly hard, and after O’Hara blitzed past Djurasevic, Boija was left out to dry as O’Hara silkily one-handed poked the puck into the back of the net, sealing the deal for the Minutemen, their first shorthanded goal of the season.

Djurasevic and Russell made it far too easy for O’Hara to pick up his second goal of the night and UMass’ first short-handed tally of the season. (Photo: UMass Athletics)

“We had some guys that were in way over their heads tonight. That last goal was, I mean, that’s beyond words on the power play to get beat up the ice like that,” Barr said about UMass’ fifth goal of the night.

It wasn’t like the Minutemen were reinventing the wheel. They played rather simple hockey, got the puck in behind Maine’s defense, suffocated the Black Bears on the forecheck, worked the puck around the boards, and threw basic shots on net where Massachusett’s netfront play completely outclassed Maine’s.

The Mullins Center, with its slightly wider sheet of ice, ten feet larger than the standard size Alfond is, allowed Massachusetts more space and time, especially in the offensive zone, forcing Maine’s defense to cover more ground and leave wider gaps open. For the Minutemen, utilizing this home-ice advantage they are used to was a point of emphasis coming into the weekend.

“I think we focused on holding pucks a bit more in our o-zone. We haven’t played them yet at home, so we wanted to use the big ice to our advantage. We did a good job of that all night, and I think we wore them down the whole game,” O’Hara said. “We have a lot of good forwards, skilled forwards that can make plays, and you have a little bit more room out there compared to an NHL-sized rink; we used that to our advantage. We used the space to spread their D-zone out.”

With the extra ice to cover, UMass looked physically more conditioned as the game wore on and Maine wore down.

“We’re used to it and that conditioning of practicing out there all year and playing on the big sheet, it’s a big advantage for us. You can kind of tell when teams are getting worn down by going that extra [ten feet]. It’s an ocean out there,” Joey Musa explained.

However, for Maine, mental errors were equally as troublesome as their lacking physical energy and compete levels.

“We didn’t take care of the puck, we didn’t block shots, bad backchecks, and bad line changes. They’ve got really good players and took advantage of it,” Barr said.

This season, Boija has routinely bailed out his teammates time and time again with game-changing stops on a seemingly nightly basis. Friday night was not another one of these almost regularly programmed performances, as Boija had his shakiest game of the season, looking very frustrated at himself and his teammates after every goal. While the result is by no means solely Boija’s fault, he would have wanted a couple of UMass’ goals back, especially the second and fourth tallies.

“I can’t blame him for those; it wasn’t his best night, but it’s not on him,” Barr said about Boija’s performance.

For UMass, now #10 in the Pairwise and tied for 5th place in the Hockey East standings with Providence for the final First Round bye, Saturday night will once again be treated like the biggest game of the season for the Minutemen who have been one of the hottest teams down the stretch.

“I’m extremely proud of the team. They’ve come together really well down the stretch. We’re playing really good teams every night and finding ways to win, and it’s, again, every facet of our game I’m just really happy with,” Carvel said.

Saturday night is another must-win for Massachusetts, which will be desperate not to have to play on Wednesday. For Maine, after their most lacking performance of the season, it’s truly now or never for them to get back on track and head into the playoffs playing anywhere near their best hockey.

If the Black Bears lay another egg on Saturday, it will be time to ring the alarm bells with Maine trending in completely the wrong direction at the worst possible time of the year.

But if Maine can bounce back, regroup, and refind their identity and confidence with a night and days improved showing, even if they don’t pick up a win, it will certainly calm any nerves about the Black Bears’ form heading into the postseason.

Better to get it out of their systems this weekend than next.

Sometimes, you have to hit rock bottom in order to rebound.

It can only go up from here, right?