To be a successful team, you have to find different ways to win.
You aren’t always going to be at your best, but you still have to play well enough or do certain things well enough to put a digit in the win column.
Over the last four games against two teams ranked in the top eight in the country, the University of Maine’s Black Bear hockey team scored only eight goals. But it emerged with a 3-1 record because it held sixth-ranked Denver and No. 8 UMass Lowell to just five goals.
Denver came into its series at UMaine tied for first in the country among the 64 Division I schools in goals per game with four. UMaine limited them to three goals in the two games, and two were power play goals. The teams split 2-1 contests.
UMass Lowell was averaging 3.22 goals per game before the Black Bears held the team to only one goal in each game, winning 3-1 and 2-1 in Lowell this past weekend.
UMaine is now 15-4-2 and has held opponents to two goals or less 17 times and to one goal or less eight times.
The team’s 15-4-2 record through 21 games is its best since the 2003-04 team went 16-4-1. That was the last of five UMaine teams to play in an NCAA championship game, losing to Denver 1-0 at TD Garden in Boston.
UMaine is now third in the Pairwise Rankings, which emulate the NCAA Tournament selection process. Michigan State and Boston College are one and two, respectively. UMaine is ranked fifth in one national poll and tied for sixth in the other.
Playing stifling team defense requires hard work, tenacity, attention to detail, unselfishness and high-quality goaltending.
You have to have numbers on the defensive side of the puck, make quick, precise breakout passes, clear your net front so your goalie can see the shots and block shots.
And the best defense is a good offense. If you keep the puck in the offensive zone, the other team isn’t going to score. And the Black Bears have been an effective forechecking team all season long.
Another important ingredient is discipline. That means not taking needless penalties.
UMaine only gave Denver, the nation’s best power play, three such opportunities over the two nights, and the River Hawks’ seventh-best power play unit had only five chances.
Denver scored on two of its three power plays but UMass Lowell went 0-for-5.
The sweep of eighth-ranked UMass Lowell was UMaine’s first road sweep of a top 10 team since January 2020, when the Black Bears beat number four Boston College 4-3 and 3-2, both in overtime.
Sophomore goalie Albin Boija, chosen Hockey East’s Goaltender of the Week for this past weekend’s 51 saves on 53 shots, has been rock solid.
His 1.55 goals-against average is second best in the country and his .931 save percentage is 11th. He has three shutouts.
So even though six of UMaine’s top 10 point-producing forwards are in goal-scoring droughts ranging from five to 16 games, the Black Bears keep winning.
Senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale has chipped in his seventh and eighth career goals over the past four games and sophomore defenseman Frank Djurasevic notched one. Senior center Nolan Renwick snapped a nine-game scoring drought and junior left wing Freel ended a four-game drought.
It is important for the Black Bears to stick with the blueprint and not sacrifice defense in order to force offense. The goals will come.
Senior center Harrison Scott is the exception as he continues to put up numbers during an impressive campaign to date.
He has nine goals and two assists in his last nine games. His total of 15 goals is third-most in the nation.
The San Jose native also has 12 assists to give him 27 points in 21 games, which leaves him tied for eighth with 1.29 points per contest.
Scott, who had 15 goals and 12 assists in 37 games a year ago, is the first UMaine player to score at least 15 goals in back-to-back seasons since Spencer Abbott had seasons of 17 and 21 goals in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively, and Brian Flynn had 20 and 18 in those two seasons.
UMaine is ranked in the top 15 as a team in all the major categories.
In addition to being second in goals allowed, it is fourth in goals scored per game (3.52), seventh in power play percentage (26.7), 13th in faceoff percentage (53.1) and 14th on the penalty kill (84.4).
The Black Bears, 7-2-2 in Hockey East and atop the league standings, will entertain a formidable 11-8-1 UConn team this weekend. The Huskies are 6-6-1 in Hockey East and ranked 11th in the Pairwise Rankings and 17th in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll.
UConn has won six of its last eight meetings with UMaine.
Puck drop will be 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
