Last season, the University of Maine men’s hockey team reached the Hockey East semifinals and NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
The 2011-12 campaign was also the last time the Black Bears beat Northeastern University at Matthews Arena in Boston.
UMaine triumphed 7-1 with Joey Diamond and Spencer Abbott each scoring a pair of goals in the Feb. 25, 2012, contest.
The Black Bears will look to snap a 16-game winless streak (0-14-2) and 14-game losing streak at Matthews Arena on Friday and Saturday. Both games start at 7 p.m.
It will be their last chance to win a regular season game at Matthews Arena because the 115-year old rink, the oldest indoor ice rink in the world and the home of the first National Hockey League game played in the United States, will be demolished after the season.
It was formerly known as Boston Arena and the Boston Bruins won their first game there on Dec. 1, 1924, 2-1 over the Montreal Maroons.
UMaine is 3-0 and ranked sixth in the country in both major polls while the Huskies are 1-2.
It will be the Hockey East opener for both teams.
UMaine is coming off a sweep of nationally-ranked Quinnipiac (2-1, 6-5 in overtime) while the Huskies dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions at No. 1 Denver, the defending national champion.
“It’s a tough place to play,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “They have another really good team with a lot of skill.”
He said in their recent games at Matthews his Black Bears haven’t been good enough.
“Whether it be on the penalty kill, the power play, goaltending, it’s something. That’s the game of hockey. So we’re going to have to go down there, on the road in Hockey East, and one of those aspects of the game can’t be terrible. I know we’re going to work hard but the execution piece is going to be important,” the fourth-year coach added.
UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale said he doesn’t want to graduate from UMaine having “never gotten a win at Northeastern. It would be fun for us to get that job done.
”They’re obviously a really good team and they’ve had our number at home. The simpler we can keep it, the more we can play our style of game and it will hopefully result in a good outcome,” Breazeale said.
Senior center Nolan Renwick said winning a conference road game is important.
“It’s our first game outside the Alfond Arena and we have to stick to what makes us good at home and not deviate from the game plan,” said Renwick. “We want to prove that there is nowhere in the country where we can’t win.”
Seven of UMaine’s 14 straight losses at NU have been by one goal including four of the last seven games.
NU won last year’s only game at Matthews, 6-3.
It was 2-2 after two periods and UMaine outshot the Huskies 27-15.
But UMaine’s Ben Poisson picked up a five-minute major early in the third period and the Huskies scored three times en route to the triumph.
“I felt like we outplayed them in that game. They’re just a team that scores fast. They’re skilled and they get behind you a lot. We have to be really aware. They’re fast and they can put the puck in the back of the net in bunches,” said Breazeale.
UMaine will have to adapt to the dimensions as Matthews Arena is five feet wider than UMaine’s Alfond Arena.
Graduate student center and co-captain Lynden Breen pointed out that “we obviously always have an advantage at home but we don’t have the best track record on the road, even last year.
“This is going to be a big step for us if we can find the top of our game on Friday night and really dictate the balance of the ice in our direction,” said Breen. “We need to come out strong like we do at home and really dictate that from the start.”
UMaine was 8-8 on the road a year ago and 13-2-2 at Alfond Arena. The Black Bears were 2-2 in neutral site contests.
UMaine has been led by the line of Renwick (3 goals, 2 assists) between left wing Taylor Makar (3 & 3) and Ross Mitton (1 & 3) along with Hockey East Player of the Week Harrison Scott (1 & 5), defenseman Brandon Holt (1 & 4) and goalie Albin Boija (3-0, 1.97 goals-against average, .906 save percentage).
Jerry Keefe’s Huskies, picked sixth in the Hockey East preseason poll, return five of their top 10 scorers off last year’s 17-16-3 team (9-14-1 in Hockey East) but lost their top two scorers in Justin Hryckowian (13 & 13) and Alex Campbell (22 & 20). Scorers three through six return in Biddeford’s Jack Williams (17 & 19), Dylan Hryckowian (7 & 27), Justin’s brother; Cam Lund (11 & 19) and defenseman Vinny Borgesi (5 & 23).
Dylan Hryckowian (2 & 2), Williams (2 & 2), Borgesi (1 & 3) and Quinnipiac transfer Cristophe Tellier (1 & 3) are the top point-getters so far this season.
Cameron Whitehead (17-14-3, 2.62, .917 in 2023-24) returns in goal and is 1-2, 3.34, .894 this season.
Cumberland’s Andy Moore is a forward for NU.
