The Black Bears celebrate on the Garden ice after winning Maine’s first Hockey East title since 2004. (Photo: Sophia Santamaria - UMaine Athletics)

Maine Black Bears hockey matters again.

It has, of course, always mattered to the University, the greater Bangor area, and the State, but what the 2024/25 Black Bears have done is to truly propel Maine hockey back to the top of college hockey’s consciousness. The steady heartbeat of communal devotion has always been drumming deep in the Maine woods, but now, completely re-energized, Maine’s unique hockey culture has made a comeback, elbowing its way back into college hockey’s limelight, requiring the entire country to sit up and take note.

The 2024/25 team put Maine hockey back on the national radar and, simultaneously, Black Bear Nation reminded the country why they are considered the best fans in college hockey by creating the most riveting gameday atmosphere week in and week out.

This year built off the tremendous strides taken last season when Maine reached the Garden and National Tournament for the first time since 2012. This winter the Black Bears proved that last season’s achievement was no fluke; rather, it confirmed Maine is back where it belongs, where it should always be, and where it will continue to be.

Hearts on fire, the Alfond Faithful packed the barn night in and night out for a second consecutive season, once again leading Hockey East with ten sellouts during the campaign while also hosting a nationally televised game on ESPNU and a regionally broadcast game on NESN for the first time in recent memory. Everything College Hockey even came to witness the storied  Alfond atmosphere for themselves. Meanwhile, road games played in all corners of New England continued to see the Mainiacs' mighty presence follow the team, with Black Bear Nation frequently out-vocalizing the “home” team’s fan bases.

Albin Boija applauds the Maineiaks student fan group, who took over Providence’s Schneider Arena on February 8th, giving the Black Bears a “home-ice” advantage 300 miles from Orono. (Photo: UMaine Athletics)

This frenzied fanaticism culminated in a blue crescendo when Black Bear Nation took over Boston for the 2025 Hockey East Tournament. The story of this now legendary weekend is as much about the sheer insanity of what felt like the entire State of Maine rocking up to the Garden as it was about the heroic on-ice display of relentless Black Bears reclaiming their crown as champions of the toughest league in all of college hockey for the first time since 2004.

Working in tandem, the Black Bears, the Alfond Faithful, and the entire State of Maine showed that in a hockey landscape that increasingly rewards those with deeper pockets, no money in the world can replace the remarkably special bond between team and community, and the profound effect that such a culture has on the ice.

It felt as if the entire State of Maine invaded Boston when Black Bear Nation blanketed the Garden in a sea of blue for the Hockey East title game. (Photo: Sophia Santamaria - UMaine Athletics)

Fueling this frenzy was an inspirational group of Black Bears who squeezed every ounce of heart they had to take this team as far as they could go. On paper, the Black Bears weren’t anything particularly special, just a somewhat rag-tag group led by veteran leaders who lived through Maine’s seven-win season only four years ago, alongside underachieving portal transferees who joined the team with question marks over their names, and filled out with individuals recruited by the prior Red Gendron administration.

But that’s what made this team and their achievements so incredibly special.

A whole so much greater than the sum of their parts, when the mighty Maine machine was clicking, it was truly a sight to behold. Punching well above their weight class, Ben Barr’s Black Bears showed that with a healthy dressing room culture built on hard-working humbleness, endless effort and desire, and powered by the truly unique connection with their adoring community, anything and everything is achievable.

Maine’s championship banner hanging from the Garden’s rafters is living proof that heart and soul are, in fact, capable of leading the charge to success.

Not only was it capable of leading to success, but it could do so with jaw-dropping ferocity.

When Maine was firing, with all its pistons well-oiled and clicking, the Black Bears were a force to be reckoned with. Countless times this season, it's hounding forecheck, frenzied front-footed defense, brutal physicality, and swarming puck hunting enabled Maine to furiously overwhelm their opponents when all four forward lines and defensive pairs are humming.

It’s no coincidence that Maine outshot the opposition by 1,320 shots on goal to 979 shots against this year, even firing off over 40 shots in a game ten times and doubling their opponent's shots on goal tally seven different times. Maine’s shots on goal average of 34.7 shots ended up being the fourth-highest in the nation and best in all of Hockey East. Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, the Black Bears only allowed an average of 25.8 shots against, which was 8th best nationally and 2nd highest in Hockey East behind UNH’s 25.1 SA/G.

But what paved the way to Maine’s successes this season were also chinks in their armor that contributed to the Black Bears’ eventual downfall in the NCAA Tournament. 

Yes, Maine’s muck and grinding cycle game would more often than not pour a boatload of shots on the opposition net, with the Black Bears outshooting their opponents in 30 of their 38 games played this campaign. But while they threw on the fourth-most shots-per-game in the country, their 3.3 goals-per-game was tied for 11th in the nation, and their 9.4% shooting percentage was only 33rd in all of college hockey and only 5th best in Hockey East.

Black Bear Nation packed the Alfond ten times this season, the most in Hockey East for a second consecutive season. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

An inconsistent offense

Maine’s most significant frailty this year was inconsistent scoring, failing to execute on the large number of chances created with anything near enough regularity. They were actually tied for having the most goals per game in all of college hockey at Christmas (4.0 G/G), aided by a power play that was at the time scoring at the third-best rate in the nation (28.2%). But over the course of the long winter months, Maine’s power play sputtered and grew cold, at one point going 0 for 29, ending the year at 21.2% (T-25th nationally) as the Black Bears dropped from scoring an average of 4.0 G/G in their first 16 games to just 2.64 G/G in their 22 post-Christmas contests.

Much of these second-half scoring struggles had to do with usually reliable goal-scorers going through lengthy dry spells, often at the same time.

Harrison Scott scored 14 goals in the first 20 games of the season, but couldn’t maintain that incredible pace, netting just three in the remaining 18 games. Thomas Freel at one point led the nation in power-play goals, with seven of his eight tallies in the first half coming on the man-advantage. But Freel only scored three times in the second half, of which only one came on the power play. Josh Nadeau took a while to get going, not scoring his first of the season until the sixth game of the year before having an up-and-down campaign scoring-wise, finishing the year with eight fewer goals (10) than the previous year. Ross Mitton came out of the gates quickly, scoring three goals and registering eight points in the first half, but only scored one goal and totaled just three more points after the Winter Break. Sully Scholle hit a sophomore slump, unable to build upon his strong seven-goal freshman campaign with only three goals to his name this year. Meanwhile, Maine missed arguably their most reliable goal scorer, Lynden Breen, to a broken fibula for much of the season.

If it wasn’t for Taylor Makar, putting the entire team on his back with ten goals in nine games during late-January and early February, the Black Bears’ second half of the regular season, in which they limped down the stretch, could have gone much worse.

This season, Maine truly missed having an elite goal-scorer at their disposal. Last year, high-end sniper Bradly Nadeau could find the back of the net with postage-stamp precision, an uncanny ability that no coach could ever teach.

Fans were hoping that Josh Nadeau could fill the shoes of his younger brother as Maine’s top shooting weapon, as Josh’s 18 goals last season were only one tally behind Bradly’s. But Josh Nadeau is built in a playmaker mold, not a true sniper, and is best when he is setting up teammates with seam-passes that very few other players can visualize on the ice.

What made that Nadeau-duo so successful last year, in addition to their ability to find each other on the net with freaky telepathy, was that whenever the puck was on Bradly’s tape, opposition defenses had to scramble to cover him with an extra defender, opening up space for Josh to receive a pass. This season, without the threat of Bradly, Josh was unable to pop up in quite the same scoring positions with as much regularity and looked frustrated without as much open ice to work in as the previous year.

Without a pure goal-scoring individual on the team, many of  Maine’s abundance of shots on goal were low-percentage “shovels” on net where the Black Bears would look to crash the crease and score greasy goals in the dirty areas. This worked exceptionally well in the first half of the season, where the likes of Thomas Freel and Harrison Scott were able to muscle their way into the opposition's netfront, turning it  into their playground. But as the season wore on and opponents' game plans took note, it became clear that if you took away Maine’s netfront authority, you could find success keeping the Black Bears’ chances mainly to the perimeter, where Maine was inconsistent in being unable to make the plays required to unpick the defensive lock. And then, once in grade-A shooting positions, Maine simply didn’t have enough skilled scoring touch to finish off the play with a goal.

The Black Bears had the fourth-highest shots per game tally in the country, often throwing everything but the kitchen sink on net, but with many of these coming from lower-percentage scoring areas. Without a truly elite shooter at their disposal, their 3.3 goals-per-game average was tied for 11th in the nation, a significant drop off compared to the quantity of chances they created.

Maine also wasn’t always the best at handling the puck in the O-zone in tight areas once they moved it off the boards. Likewise, they were inconsistent in creating their own time and space by moving their feet; their scoring chances were very much quantity over quality.

Paralleling this, Maine’s 33rd highest shooting percentage in the country (9.4%) was the fourth lowest among the 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament and well behind those that made it to the Frozen Four: BU 12.5%, Penn State 10.6%, Denver 12.2%, and Western Michigan 11.1%.

Comparing Maine’s top-point-getters to the teams that made it all the way to St. Louis also reiterates that the Black Bears were hurt by not having “the guy” who can be relied on to consistently carry the offense. Maine had six Black Bears finish the season with a points-per-game ratio greater than 0.6 points/game. Scott led the way with 0.92 pt/g, Makar behind him with 0.79 pt/g, followed by Nadeau (0.78 pt/g), Djurasevic (0.74 pt/g), and Renwick (0.63 pt/g).

Meanwhile, BU had nine players with a points-per-game ratio over 0.6, led by Quinn Huttson (1.32 pt/g) and Cole Huttson (1.23 pt/g). Denver had eight players, topped by Jack Devine (1.30 pt/g), Aidan Thompson (1.25 pt/g), and Zeev Buium (1.17 pt/g). Penn State had seven players with a points ratio greater than 0.60 led by Aiden Fink (1.33 pt/g) and Charlie Cerrato (1.11 pt/g). Although the National Champions, Western Michigan, only had one Bronco with a ratio over a point a game in Alex Bump (1.12 pt/g), WMU had nine players over 0.6.

So while Maine’s six individuals weren’t a mile off the arsenal that the Frozen Four teams possessed – a credit to the Black Bears’ depth – Maine didn’t have anyone able to produce over a point-per-game that these teams proved is required to go far in the National Tournament.

Maine had firepower in depth, but didn’t possess any single individual to routinely lead the offensive charge.

Defense leading the charge

The Black Bears’ most pleasant surprise this season was how well their defense played. Returning the entire defensive core that only allowed 2.5 goals-per-game in 2023/24, Black Bear Nation felt comfortable with the defense coming into the season, but not many would have predicted that Maine’s defense would only allow a minuscule 1.91 GAA, the third-best in all of college hockey.

Of course, much of this had to do with the unbelievable sophomore campaign from the brick-wall himself, Albin Boija, who continued the decades-long tradition of Maine churning out elite goaltenders year after year. Maine holds the NCAA record of 12 ex-Black Bear goaltenders to play in the NHL, five of which have secured 100 NHL wins under their belt – also the most of any college hockey program.

Most would agree that Boija was the MVP for Maine this season, with his 1.82 GAA the fifth best in the nation among goaltenders. Boja bailed out the Black Bears countless times. He single-handedly stole the team wins, scraped out ties, and saved an incredible 15 for 16 shots in shootout attempts this season, grabbing Maine countless extra Hockey East points.

Boija played in 17 one-goal games this season, eight of which Maine won. Without his nightly heroics and steely reliability, they very well could have become a bubble team.

Sophomore netminder Albin Boija’s monumental season paved the way for the Black Bears’ success all year long, making highlight-reel saves look easy night after night. (Photo: UMaine- Athletics)

But Boija wasn’t the only reason for Maine’s defensive success, as the team in front of him didn’t allow a whole lot of high-quality shots to unsettle the Black Bear netminder. Maine only allowed an average of 25.8 shots against, which was eighth best in the country. Meanwhile, nobody could fault the penalty kill, which was 15th best in the nation at a very respectable 82.9%

But Maine’s defense quite often had a mistake in them, a frustrating trend throughout the season. The way the Black Bears play defense, in your face and completely front-footed, made them vulnerable to a misread on a pinch down the wall, a panicked breakout pass, or a missed hit in open ice, causing major problems at the back. This was the root cause of several late-game collapses.

Aside from the ridiculously reliable Brandon Holt, who played as close to mistake-free hockey all season as you can, all the Black Bear blueliners had their struggles at one point or another.

For all the incredible leadership qualities and inspirational play David Breazeale brought to the team, he wasn’t faultless, making an errant pass here or there, leading to opposition goals. Brandon Chabrier seemed like he plateaued a bit this season, looking like he was overthinking the game at times, not his usual confident self. And even Frank Djurasevic, who was excellent offensively as a puck-moving playmaker, showed signs of his inexperience at this level, occasionally prone to a poor read or missed hit up ice, leading to an odd-man rush the other way.

Outside of these four defensemen whom he trusted to log a large amount of time on the ice, Barr didn’t appear to feel comfortable filling the final two or three D-men spots in the lineup for much of the year.

Liam Lesakowski, who was always prone to a penalty or puck mistake, didn’t see the ice as a defenseman after mid-January, and his transfer to Sacred Heart after the season is writing on the wall that Barr didn’t always trust him.

Jack Dalton showed a lot of promise this year, taking big strides forward offensively.  After he took a five-minute major penalty in early February at Providence, however, Dalton only appeared in two more games in  Maine blue before transferring to Bentley in recent weeks.

Bodie Nobes, who didn’t appear in the lineup until early-January, was lights out when he finally got the chance to play and was a huge shot in the arm for a team struggling to find defensive depth. Nobes, strong as an ox in front of the net on one-on-one defending, played fearlessly while his offensive game grew down the stretch.

Barr did end up leaning heavily on junior Grayson Arnott, who had an up-and-down year and, by all accounts, was often playing pretty banged up, especially down the stretch.

Both Arnott and Luke Antonacci were in Barr’s doghouse for a good portion of the second half after a couple of panicked mistakes led to Denver goals early in January. But after returning to the lineup for good in mid-February, Antonacci excelled down the stretch, logging reliable minutes as well as adding some offensive production to his game.

Making sense of the ending

In the span of just eight days in late March, Black Bear Nation witnessed Maine dominate in two very different fashions on back-to-back nights in Boston before being handily beaten in a dismal season-ending defeat by a 5-1 score, tied for their worst scoreline of the season.

The thrilling Hockey East semifinal double-overtime win was the version of the Black Bears fans had grown used to all season, completely dominating most of the game but struggling to put the biscuit in the basket as Northeastern’s Cameron Whitehead stood on his head before Nolan Renwick was finally able to stick one in the net on Maine’s 61st shot on goal of the game. On the night, Maine’s shooting percentage was just 6.56%, but still only their 12th lowest of the season.

Nolan Renwick’s double-overtime tap-in to win their Hockey East semifinal was the biggest goal in the past decade for Maine hockey. (Photo: Matt Dewkett - UMaine Athletics)

The very next night in the Championship game, Maine was actually outshot by UConn 29-24, held to their third-lowest amount of chances on net all season. But completely unlike the previous night and much of the season, everything the Black Bears shot seemed to find the back of the net as Maine roared to five goals for a season high 20.83% shooting success rate. The only other times Maine had come near that high of a shooting percentage was the very first game of the season, scoring six goals on 32 shots on goal against AIC (18.75%) and in the Quarterfinal win over Lowell, where the Black Bears scored seven times on 42 shots (16.67%).

So, after Maine was able to dominate one game on the shots on goal tally and less than 24 hours later dominate another contest on the scoreboard, it was incredibly disappointing that only a week later, the Black Bears struggled profoundly in both creating chances and scoring goal  in their season-ending loss to Penn State in the NCAA Tournament First Round, being completely outplayed by Penn State’s skill and speed.

These night-and-day, back-to-back weekends really sum up the strengths and the flaws of the 2024/25 Black Bears. 

Relying on playing with incredible amounts of effort, energy, and emotion, when the Black Bears had that spark in their legs and fire in their bellies, they looked almost unbeatable. With Black Bear Nation turning the Garden into Alfond South with a mighty monsoon of Mainers’ noise, the Black Bears were able to utilize that blood-pumping emotion to play their best hockey of the season in a sparkling display of domination.

But when the shoe was on the other foot and it was Maine’s turn to head into enemy territory in front of a hostile crowd as they did a week later in Allentown, Pennsylvania, nothing seemed to click, and the lights on Maine’s season went out with a whimper.

Walking a tightrope, the Black Bears perhaps relied too heavily on their work ethic and compete-level. When the Maine machine was purring, fueled by their incredible energy levels, they looked like the best team in the country. But when they weren’t able to conjure up the same spring in their step, they looked disjointed and without another dimension forward in their locker. For Maine to truly play to their identity of being a lunch-pail team that drags the opponents into the cave and mauls them, everything has to be perfectly in tune and nothing can go wrong. When one component of this machine is not aligned, it breaks down and falls apart fast.

That turnaround from the glory of capturing the Hockey East title one week to refocusing for the first step in search of the holy grail in the National Tournament was too quick of a shift in focus for Maine.

There’s no blaming them. Having to compartmentalize the emotions of achieving Maine hockey’s most historic moment in over a decade, less than a week before the National Tournament, is as difficult a mental task as any, especially for a team that relies on every Black Bear humming at 110%.

A bitterly disappointing ending to a magnificent season, the Black Bears bowed out at the first hurdle of the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season. (Photo: UMaine Athletics)

It is interesting that this is the second season in a row where Maine’s energy levels seemed to drop pretty significantly in the second half of the year. It does raise the question as to whether, given the amount of energy and desire that the Black Bears bring to the rink each and every day beginning in the summer, burnout is a real issue that needs to be addressed. For two seasons now, Maine has started the season looking like world beaters before having an inconsistent January and February, and then finally finding it within themselves to turn it back up come March.

End of an era

The most disappointing aspect of Maine’s shortcomings in the program’s decade-long search for a third National Championship was that they couldn’t get it done with their veteran core of leaders who have, alongside Barr, revitalized the program. The likes of long-time Black Bears Lynden Breen, David Breazeale, and Nolan Renwick, alongside recent key transfer portal additions Taylor Makar, Ross Mitton, and Harrison Scott, all deserved to fulfill their dream of going out on top of the mountain.

This is really the first time during Barr’s time at Maine that he will lose a core group of not only top producers on the ice, including half of Maine’s top-six point getters, but also the leadership group off the ice that is responsible for the night and day shift in the dressing room culture that has been key to all the on ice success.

But Maine should be confident that this culture has now been cemented in the program’s DNA for years to come. The outgoing seniors set the standard, raised the bar, and have established the expectations for what it means to be a Maine Black Bear.

During Barr’s first four seasons, his first “cycle” at the helm, he and his team have done the miraculous in reinvigorating a fanbase that can finally dream again, reestablish a winning culture in the dressing room, and have built a sturdy platform for the Black Bears to reach higher than ever before.

The foundation has been laid, standing on the shoulders of these outgoing Black Bear giants, and when Maine can finally hang a third National Championship banner from the rafters of the Alfond, the fingerprints of Breazeale, Breen, Renwick, Mitton, Makar, and Scott will be all over that trophy.

On Senior Night, the Alfond serenades one of the most influential outgoing classes of Black Bears in Maine’s history. (Photo: Anthony DelMonaco - UMaine Athletics)

While the season may have ended short of achieving the ultimate holy grail, the future of Maine Black Bears hockey has never looked brighter. In the meantime, the Alfond Faithful will just have to make do with gloating that their beloved Black Bears are Champions of Hockey East.

We may be living in the good old days, but the best is still yet to come.

Until then, shout ‘til the rafters ring.

The 2024/25 Black Bears forever etched their mark in the storied history of Maine hockey, winning the program’s first Hockey East title since 2004. (Photo: Matt Dewkett - UMaine Athletics)