The #8 University of Maine men’s ice hockey team will be doing something this Saturday night that they haven’t done in 12 years. And that is host a quarterfinal playoff game. The Black Bears, who finished third in Hockey East, will take on their biggest rivals to the South in the #17 New Hampshire Wildcats at the Alfond Arena, with a trip to TD Garden in Boston for the league semifinals next Friday on the line.
#3 seed Maine (22-10-2, 14-9-1 Hockey East), who was picked ninth in the preseason conference poll back in September and won just seven games two years ago, hasn’t been to Boston for the semifinals since the 2011-12 season when they defeated Merrimack 2-1 in the third game of a best of three quarterfinal in Orono. The Black Bears went on to defeat Boston University 5-3 in the semis at TD Garden, before falling to Boston College 4-1 in the championship game. They would of hosted a best of three home quarterfinal in the 2019-20 season versus UConn, before that was cut short and canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last trip to the NCAA Tournament was also that same year (2011-12) losing to Minnesota-Duluth in the first round 5-2. Maine has already about sewn up a trip back to the big dance in this 2023-24 campaign, currently ranked #7 in the Pairwise Rankings no matter what happens in the league playoffs. The Black Bears only lost one game outside of Hockey East in the regular season (8-1-1), 4-1 at Quinnipiac in their fourth game on the schedule when the Bobcats were ranked #5 in the country at the time. The latest USCHO Bracketology predicts Maine to end up in the NCAA Regionals in Springfield, Massachusetts with #2 in the country Boston University, #10 Michigan, and #13 Western Michigan.
The Maine resurgence this season, under third year head coach Ben Barr, has been led by freshman brothers Bradly and Josh Nadeau from St. Francois-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick. The dynamic duo have both registered 41 points, to lead seven Black Bears skaters who have put up 20+ points on the season. Bradly, an NHL Draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, has 17 goals and 24 assists. He was also named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team on Wednesday. Josh has 16 goals and 25 assists, and both players have four game winning goals as well. Lynden Breen (eight goals, 20 assists) has also put up a very impactful senior season often skating on the same line with the Nadeaus, including putting in his first game winner this past Saturday with 1:17 left in the third period to help complete a home sweep 4-3 over #12 UMass in the regular season finale. Bentley University junior transfer Harrison Scott has been one of the top faceoff guys in the entire country all year, while also scoring 14 goals and dishing out 12 assists and is tied for the team lead in game winning tallies (4). Senior forward Donovan Villeneuve-Houle (nine goals, 14 assists), sophomore forward Thomas Freel (six goals, 16 assists), and sophomore defenseman Brandon Chabrier (six goals, 15 assists) round out the leading scorers with 20 or more points. As a team, the Black Bears average 3.3 goals per game and give up 2.6. They would like to operate a little bit better on the powerplay as the postseason begins (25-120, 21%), but they do a great job at limiting their opponents chances on the extra man (19%) with their penalty kill, as they’ve killed off 105 of the 129 powerplays against them. Maine also had six shorthanded goals on the season, but will also need to stay disciplined to find playoff success by staying out of the penalty box as they average 9.2 penalty minutes per contest that could hurt them in a single game one or done from here on out.
In the net, freshman goaltender Albin Boija (Sundsvall, Sweden) has made six straight starts and 10 of the last 12 to solidify that number one starting job over senior Victor Ostman. Boija made several key saves in the 2-1 win over UMass last Friday, including on a third period shorthanded breakout and a few more Grade A stops in the last minute after the Minutemen had pulled their netminder for an extra attacker. Despite giving up three on Saturday, he again made timely saves to keep his team in the game, allowing them to win it on the late Breen goal. Overall he has started 14 games and is 9-5-1 with a 2.07 goals against average with a .917 save percentage and one shutout.
This will be the fourth meeting this season between Maine and UNH. The Black Bears took the first one 5-2 in Orono on December 1, before the Wildcats thumped them for a weekend sweep in Durham on February 16 and 17th by scores of 6-2 and 5-2. UNH (20-14-1) is the #6 seed in the Hockey East Tournament, advancing to Orono with a 1-0 win over #11 seed UMass-Lowell on Wednesday night in the opening round. The Wildcats will likely only make the NCAA Tournament if they win the postseason conference championship and grab the automatic bid. Hockey East changed their format on both the men’s and women’s sides in 2021 from a best of three quarterfinal series with only the top eight teams in the conference making the playoffs, to all 11 men’s teams eligible (10 on women’s side) to participate with it all being single elimination. Faceoff between Maine and UNH is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at another sold-out Alfond Arena. The Alfond led Hockey East in sellouts during the regular season with 10, and the Black Bears have enjoyed a 12-2-2 home record in Orono during this 2023-24 run.
Story by Chris Lessner/Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
