UNH, UConn, Union, and Bentley Preview

Four games in nine days see Maine finish their pre-break schedule against UNH and UConn before a midweek faceoff at Union. Maine will then complete the busy push against Bentley in Portland.

The Maine Black Bears drop the puck on a busy stretch to end the first half of the season. This weekend, the Black Bears face off at home in the always anticipated matchup with longtime rival UNH Friday night before welcoming UConn to the Alfond Sunday. The Bears will then travel to New York's capital region for a midweek matchup with Union before returning to the pine tree state for a date with Bentley in Portland next Saturday to conclude their pre-winter break slate of games.

Maine took Thanksgiving weekend off, recuperating from their hard-fought back-to-back battles at Boston University. The Black Bears came away from Beantown disappointed, not by their performance, but by the results, losing both games by one goal.

Although Maine played well against one of the best teams in the country, especially on Saturday night, they failed to pick up any points in the standings. Even though they deserved more than zero from six points, the weekend showed that this year's Black Bears could skate with anyone, even teams overflowing with NHL draft picks on their roster.

The weekend, and the beginning of the season overall, showed Ben Barr's staff and team exactly where they are at.

And where they are is in excellent shape, exceeding many of even the biggest optimists' predictions with a 6-3-1 record, all while playing the most brutal stretch of their schedule: away at Quinnipiac, Merrimack, and BU and home to Boston College – all ranked teams who will have championship ambitions come spring-time.

Maine's success against the nation's top echelon of college hockey teams has put the Black Bears on the national radar. USCHO.com's latest weekend poll, as voted on by coaches and journalists, has the Black Bears voted at 11th in the NCAA. Meanwhile, the computer-generated Pairwise statistical ranking that compares every team through a combination of wins and losses paired with strength of opposition has the Bears ranked 5th in the country.

So far, the story of Maine's season has been the top line of freshmen Bradly and Josh Nadeau, centered by fellow New Brunswicker senior Lynden Breen. The line has shined so far this season, providing a constant, creative attacking threat that could be one of the most lethal lines in college hockey. The brother's near-telepathic passes, paired with the smart and skilled Breen, have frightened the opponent's defenses and provided plenty of highlight-reel goals with their intricate and menacing attack.

But fortunately for Maine, not all of their goal-scoring threat relies on the star line. Fourteen Black Bears have already found the back of the net, highlighting the team's strength in depth. All four forward lines, no matter who is plugged into the lineup on any given night, provide plenty of a goal-scoring threat and offensive prowess that doesn't give the opposition a second to breathe.

Center Harrison Scott, a transfer from Bentley, has been a stand-out. His dominance at the faceoff dot has made Maine the sixth-best team in terms of faceoff wins. Winning faceoffs is vital to winning games, starting with the puck, which has often allowed the Black Bears to control large portions of games, establishing puck dominance and their style of playing.

This style implemented by Barr relies on effort and energy, two facets that Maine excels at. Without the puck, the forwards are constantly in the face of the opponent's defense. At the same time, their own defensemen have excelled at pinching the play, stepping up to cut off passes, or not allowing the opposition out of their defensive zone.

It's a high-risk, high-reward way to play. When it works, it pens the opponent's back as the tight, in-your-face defense rushes puck-handlers into rushing and causing wayward passes. However, when teams can break through Maine's high pressure, the Black Bears sometimes look vulnerable. 

The young Maine defense has played well so far this season. Still, sometimes their inexperience shows as they try to make a challenging play when a simple one is available. But the blueliners are so young — with lone junior David Breazeale being the most experienced — and these mental lapses will only become more far and few between as they continue to play more games and grow in experience.

When the team's defense gets into trouble, they are often bailed out by senior goaltender Victor Ostman, who has proved to be Maine's most important player, coming up with big save after big save when his team needs him the most. The Swedish netminder excels at shutting down the opponent's odd-man rushes with terrific post-to-post goaltending.

In past seasons, Maine's biggest struggle was their offense. However, this year is one of their biggest strengths as they have yet to be shutout and have only been held to one goal once. Offensively, Maine has shown that they can adapt to any type of offensive game plan required. When they need to get pucks in deep and play hard-nosed hockey down-low to create scoring chances, they can. They can also adjust when the game requires them to stretch the play and create scoring off the rush with speed through the neutral zone. The Maine offense has scored four or more goals in half of their games played, a terrific sign if they can keep this pace up.

In their ten games played, the Black Bears have outshot their opponents in eight of them, often by double digits, showcasing their ability to limit the opponent's offense and provide a plethora of their own.

But these four games in nine days will provide totally new challenges that the Black Bears must hurdle if they are to keep their terrific season going.

UNH Preview

The most highly-anticipated of this stretch of games is of course going to be the Border Battle. It's often the first game fans look for when the schedule gets released, and even when both teams have been dismal in the past decade, the game always provides a raucous atmosphere, whether in Orono or Manchester.

However, this edition of the Border Battle will provide a whole other level of electricity and excitement as it is the first time since 2011 that the two rivals have both been ranked when facing each other. UNH's success this season has perhaps been an even bigger surprise than Maine's. The Wildcats polled at #15 and ranked on the pairwise as #11 have had a great start to their season with big wins over BU and Quinnipiac and beating Northeastern in all three games they have played against Hockey East powerhouse.

Maine's offense will be tested, as UNH goaltender Jakob Hellsten leads the country in both save percentage and goals against average. Meanwhile, the Wildcats will provide plenty of scoring threats themselves as New Hampshire native #29 Cy LeClerc and last week's Hockey East Rookie of the Week #36 Ryan Conmy will test Maine's defense.

Maine opened up this season with an exhibition win over the Wildcats in a thrilling game played at Colby College in early October. In that game, a physical battle saw Maine come out with the majority of puck battles, and the Black Bears had the better of chances. Most came from the New Brunswick line, who shined in their first collegiate test together. But it was really only this top line that could produce any offensive pressure of real substance as the rest of Maine's forward pairings struggled. The Black Bears will need a more complete team performance to repeat their exhibition victory on Friday. 

UNH's offense in Waterville that night showed that they could hurt Maine's defense as they were able to execute on two seemingly innocent-looking plays. Hopefully, this will have taught Maine that no matter how in control of the game, the Wildcats' offense can strike at any moment.

The Black Bears could be without Victor Ostman for Friday's game; the starting goaltender is listed as day-to-day. Freshman Albin Boija played his first collegiate minutes in relief against BU, looking strong and solid. But suppose he is to be called into his first start Friday night. In that case, it will be quite the test of his mental character and focus as it will most likely be the most boisterous atmosphere he has ever played in front of.

UConn Preview

It will be hard for fans and players alike to look past the UNH game. But no matter Friday's result, Barr and his staff will have to refocus the team's attention on UConn, which will be another tough battle, as every Hockey East matchup always is.

The Huskies, who will be at home to UMass-Lowell Friday night, have had a subpar start to their season. Many predicted Connecticut to be in the top five of Hockey East teams, but a record of 6-8-1 has pushed their pairwise ranking down to 35th.

But the Black Bears cannot come into the game overconfident. Whichever Maine goaltender is in the net will be faced with plenty of shots. UConn ranks 6th in shots-per-game at 34.50 shots/game, while Maine is 2nd with 36.07. Both teams will generate plenty of grade-a-scoring chances; it will simply be up to which team can execute their chances better and which goaltender has a better game.

The Connecticut players to look out for will be forwards #20 Chase Bradley, #71 Matthew Wood, and senior #22 Hudson Schandor.

The game being on a Sunday means that the Alfond will not entirely be as rocking as usual. Coupled with this coming after the highly anticipated Border Battle, Maine must be careful not to come out sluggish and slow without the full force of their home-ice advantage. Sunday's game could be a banana skin, and the Black Bears must maintain their focus and energy to keep their hopefully intact unbeaten record at the Alfond alive.

Union Preview

After the big weekend, the Black Bears will take their farthest trip of the season. A Wednesday night date with the Union Garnet Chargers in Schenectady, New York.

The Garnet Chargers, a brand-new name this season replacing Dutchmen, are off to a 6-5-0 start to their season. Union, so far, has been very hot and cold on both sides of the puck. They can score a lot of goals, and they can get scored on a bunch. 

They have split a home series with UConn and a road set with RPI, who Maine opened up their season with a sweep over. During Union's series with local rival Rennsalaer, they lost 8-6 in the first game before winning 5-1 in the second game.

The Garnet Chargers are 8th in the nation as of this weekend in goals/game with 3.64. Union's scoring threat is deep, with plenty of different players able to find the back of the net. While their forward attack is deep, their best player in terms of points is sophomore defenseman #21 John Prokop.

While winning on the road is always tricky, a loss to Union would certainly feel disappointing, given how the two teams have fared this season.

Bentley Preview

The final game of this stretch of four games in nine days will be against the Bentley Falcons down in Portland. While many season-ticket holders dislike a home game being moved from Orono, the game provides Black Bear fans from Southern Maine a chance to watch their beloved Bears closer to home.

While past years' games in Portland have provided little atmosphere, with the unfilled Cross Insurance Arena often feeling cavernous, this game is nearly sold-out, emphasizing the entire state's excitement over the hockey team's renaissance.

The Black Bears know the Falcons well. Not only did two of their forwards play for Bentley last season in Harrison Scott and Nicholas Niemo, but they were beaten-handedly last Fall down in Waltham.

The Falcons have had a mixed start to the season. While statistically, Bentley is in good stead at 8th in the nation in both goals-against average and shots, their record of 7-8-0 must feel disheartening to Bentley fans as the team looked so strong out of the gates this season before struggling more of late. They did, however, beat Umass-Lowell last weekend before narrowly falling to Merrimack 4-3, showing that they are perfectly capable of beating the big boys of Hockey East.

Maine, off the back of being swept by BU and held winless in three games, faces their first real adversity of the season. Their response to this will significantly signal how far this team can go this season and exactly what the character and culture of this program are.

These are four very winnable games for the Black Bears, especially the two non-conference ones. Not beating UNH at home will feel deflating, as would losing to UConn. I think it is vital for Maine to keep their unbeaten record in regulation while at the Alfond intact.

Fortress Alfond will be at its rocking best Friday night, hopefully catapulting Maine into strong performances that can keep the Black Bears head held high as they go into the break. 

Let's finish this great start to the season strong.