Copyright Bangor Daily News
It was a memorable weekend for the University of Maine’s hockey team. The Black Bears swept Hockey East rival Boston University, the preseason favorite to win Hockey East in the coaches poll and a program that has reached the last three Frozen Fours including a 6-2 loss to Western Michigan in the national championship game last season. The Black Bears erased four one-goal deficits to triumph 5-4 in overtime on Friday night with senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt netting his first overtime game-winner. They won 8-5 on Saturday night. It takes a special type of performance to overcome four, one-goal deficits. There is a level of frustration when you tie the game only to fall behind by goal again time after time. And they had to kill a 42-second, two-man disadvantage in the final 3:18 of the game to force overtime. That was a testament to the culture established by fifth-year head coach Ben Barr and his assistants. Down but never out. They go into games expecting to win instead of hoping to win and they play hard until the final whistle. They again spotted the Terriers a one-goal lead on Saturday night but went on to score the next three goals, build the lead to three on two occasions and not allowing the Terriers to get any closer than two the rest of the way en route to the 8-5 triumph. The sweep catapulted the Black Bears from 12th to sixth in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll this week. It was the most goals scored by the Black Bears since they beat Boston University 8-1 on Senior Night in Orono on March 5, 2022. Fifteen different Black Bears registered at least a goal or an assist in the series and 10 players had at least two points. That scoring balance is going to be important for this team. The trademark of the UMaine program is its work ethic. UMaine may not have as much talent as some of its opponents, but it outworks teams. The Black Bears are physical, they forecheck relentlessly and keep teams back on their heels and they attack the net front. They don’t score many highlight-reel goals but they score those greasy goals in the high traffic areas. “We have some guys who can make plays and who have scored a lot of goals,” Barr said. Even with all the positives over the weekend, Barr said his team would still give up untimely two-on-zero or three-on-one breaks right when they thought they had a handle on the game. “We still have a hard time playing the same way all the time and a lot of that is BU has a lot of skill,” Barr said. “They make you feel silly sometimes.” The Black Bears didn’t look silly at the end of either game this weekend, however, leaving the Alfond with two big wins. “But the guys worked hard all weekend,” Barr said. I’m proud of them.” BU was without the injured Cole Iserman, the team’s leading goal scorer with 25 a year ago and who had scored six goals in seven games this season. One good sign for the future is the play of senior left wing Owen Fowler and junior right wing Charlie Russell, two of the team’s top seven scorers a year ago who have struggled in the early going. Russell was the team’s fifth-leading point-getter a year ago with 7 goals and 19 assists in 35 games and Fowler was seventh with 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in 38 games. Russell had one assist in UMaine’s first six games and Fowler had one goal. Each had two goals and an assist over the weekend and made their presence felt with or without the puck. “Fowler and Russ were really good this weekend,” Barr said. Two other junior centers, Brown University transfer Max Scott and Sully Scholle, also had impressive weekends with three points each. Scott had two goals and an assist and Scholle had a goal and two assists. Freshman left wing Justin Poirier continued to put the puck in the net on a regular basis. He had three goals and two assists and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games. He is tied for fifth in the country in goals per game as he has scored a team-high eight goals in eight games for the 5-2-1 Black Bears. His goal on Saturday was a gem as he was spun around by two Terriers and had the puck at his feet in the low slot. He somehow managed to get off a backhander that fluttered over goalie Max Lacroix’s glove side shoulder. Poirier is reminiscent of former Black Bear winger Colin Shields from Scotland, who scored 61 goals in 120 games and also had 56 assists. Probably no one scored more goals from difficult angles as Shields. He would shoot from anywhere and he almost always put it on net. Poirier is the same way. Holt had a career-high three assists on Saturday after scoring the game-winner on Friday and falling through the door leading to the BU locker room when he did a back-first jump into the boards/door in celebrating the goal. There is still a lot of work to do. They need to keep improving. Mistakes continue to be made, which is expected when you are playing five newcomers up front and three on defense. But the newcomers have proved that they can play and produce at this level. Freshman goalie Mathis Rousseau made 26 saves for his first career win on Saturday. UMaine outshot BU 46-31. UMaine is the fifth-leading scoring team in the country with a 4.12 goals per game average. The Black Bears, who visit UMass for Thursday-Friday night games, do have to improve their special teams. The 15.2 percent power play success rate is tied for 42nd in the country while the penalty-killing percentage of 75 percent is tied for 46th.
