The last two University of Maine hockey teams have restored the program’s status as a national championship contender.
UMaine had back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
So now it is up to head coach Ben Barr and assistants Alfie Michaud, Jason Fortier and Eric Soltys to continue the ascendancy until the Black Bears win their first NCAA title since 1999.
The top priority this offseason is finding point-producers.
The Black Bears have lost players who produced 47.6 percent of their goals this past season, along with 35.3 percent of their assists and 39.9 percent of their points.
The team has lost its top two scorers in Harrison Scott (18 goals, 17 assists) and Taylor Makar (18 goals, 12 assists) and sixth-leading scorer in Nolan Renwick (9 & 15) in addition to co-captain Lynden Breen (7 & 6 in 22 games).
Scott, Renwick and Breen were their top three centers and they were the major reason UMaine won 53 percent of its faceoffs which is 13th best among 64 Division I schools.
The Black Bears will also have to replace the leadership of Breen, a five-year player, defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale and alternate captain Renwick, who were each at UMaine for four years.
“They were awesome. They built our culture. They gave us continuity. We were fortunate to have them for four or five years,” said Barr, who won just seven games in his first season (2021-22) before upping the total to 15 in his second season.
Breen, who missed 16 games with a broken fibula this season, is the school’s 41st all-time leading scorer with 115 points on 49 goals and 66 assists.
Defenseman and co-captain Breazeale (3 & 10) and right winger Ross Mitton (4 & 7) have also departed.
“We have some guys coming back who will keep the culture going. But there’s no time to relax any more with the way things are in our world. You just have to keep going,” added Barr, referring to the recruitment of players from the transfer portal as well as from junior leagues and school teams.
In this day and age, the nation’s top players rarely stay at a school more than two years before embarking upon pro careers and players can transfer as many times as they want without having to sit out a year.
Throw in the impact of name, image and likeness (NIL) money and rosters can change dramatically from year to year.
“The days of having continuity all the time are over,” said Barr, “So you have to put your head down, sit on the phone and watch a lot of video.”
As of now, sophomore defenseman Jack Dalton is the only other player leaving this offseason who produced points this year. Dalton, who had five assists, entered the NCAA transfer portal along with fellow sophomore defenseman Liam Lesakowski, who didn’t have any points in 24 games and will play for Sacred Heart next season.
Barr is expected to return seven of his top 10 scorers in Josh Nadeau (10 & 19), Frank Djurasevic (7 & 21), Charlie Russell (7 & 19), Owen Fowler (10 & 10), Brandon Holt (4 & 16), Thomas Freel (11 & 7) and Sully Scholle (3 & 13).
Djurasevic and Holt are defensemen.
So far, seven players are expected to join the program for next season including one from the transfer portal in Max Scott, brother of Harrison Scott.
Max Scott was Brown University’s leading goal scorer this past season with 12 as a sophomore.
UMaine had a banner year when it came to impactful transfers, as forwards Makar (UMass), Russell (Clarkson), Fowler (UMass Lowell), Mitton (Colgate) and defenseman Djurasevic (Merrimack) played vital roles in UMaine’s success this season in Orono.
Makar was the only NHL draft pick on the roster (Colorado).
“They were all home runs,” Barr said about this group of transfers. “Are we going to get that lucky every year? Probably not. But now we have a track record of having these guys come in and have a really good experience with us and having success.”
Which should benefit recruiting, he noted.
“Hopefully, the quality of players will keep improving. We had super high-end quality kids turn themselves into really good players here,” said Barr. “Now, maybe the next guy sees that and we can keep it going.”
UMaine should also get a lift from the improvement from fourth-liners Oskar Komarov (2 & 5), Nicholas Niemo (3 & 2), Thomas Pichette (2 & 3) and Anthony Calafiore (1 & 0)
Sophomore goalie Albin Boija, one of 10 finalists for the Mike Richter Award (best Division I goalie) and a second team All-Hockey East pick, appears to be on track to return and had a 1.82 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage to go with his 23-8-6 record.
And he will have a deep, experienced and talented defense corps in front of him who helped him and the team finish with the nation’s third-lowest goals-against average (1.97).
Holt was a third team All-Hockey East selection and will be one of five returning defensemen who have played in at least 73 career games.
Luke Antonacci, who had two goals and two assists, has 103 games under his belt; Brandon Chabrier (0 & 10) has 102; Holt has appeared in 91 games; Grayson Arnott (1 & 0) in 79 and Djurasevic in 73.
And sophomore Bodie Nobes (1 & 4) has emerged as a steady and dependable defenseman.
Barr knows he has a much better product to offer recruits than he had when he first arrived in Orono.
In addition to their on-ice success, they have an ongoing $45 million renovation to the Alfond Arena and a huge, energized fan base that overtook the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals and championship game and makes Alfond Arena the best game-night environment in college hockey.
Barr also has received tremendous support from UMaine system Chancellor Dannel Malloy and President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, the coach said.
Players from the three Canadian Major Junior Leagues are eligible to play U.S. college hockey for the first time and Barr and his staff have landed three so far.
Major Junior players had previously been considered pros by the NCAA because they received stipends and were not allowed to play in college. But the implementation of NIL money has erased that limitation.
Defenseman Jeremy Langlois, a former NHL third-round draft pick by Arizona (now Utah) had 17 goals and 45 assists in 61 games for Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League a year ago; left wing Will Gerrior had 30 goals and 15 assists in 63 games for the Ottawa 67s in the Ontario Hockey League this season and defenseman Loic Usereau had 11 & 35 in 62 games for Chicoutimi of the QMJHL.
Langlois hasn’t played this season due to injury.
The other three incoming players from amateur junior leagues are forwards Brock James and Nick Peluso and defenseman Lukas Peterson.
James has played only nine games due to injury for Sioux Falls of the U.S. Junior Hockey League and had three goals and three assists. He is the team’s captain. A season ago, he had 22 & 34 in 54 games for the Lone Star Brahmas of the North American Hockey League.
Peluso had 19 goals and 27 assists in 41 games for the Brooks Bandits of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League and Peterson had 7 & 36 in 60 games for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USJHL.
They are slated to join a UMaine team that wound up 24-8-6 during the recently completed season and won their first Hockey East tournament title since 2004.
UMaine was the top seed for the Allentown, Pa. Regional but got knocked out of the NCAA tourney by fourth seed Penn State 5-1 in late March.
UMaine had gone 23-12-2 in 2023-24 and lost to Cornell 3-1 in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Regional a year ago.
Even though they didn’t win an NCAA tournament game, the 2023-24 and ‘24-25 teams both reached the Hockey East semifinals and earned NCAA tournament berths, which is something the Black Bears hadn’t done since the 2011-12 campaign.
