University of Maine men’s hockey coach Ben Barr understands his predicament heading into the season-opening series against Holy Cross.
His Black Bears, sixth in one national poll and eighth in the other, are coming off an underwhelming performance in a 2-2 exhibition tie against New Hampshire at Bowdoin College’s Sidney J. Watson Arena last Friday night. They were outshot 38-18 but rallied from a 2-0 deficit.
And now they will take on the defending Atlantic Hockey America regular season champion Holy at the newly-renovated Alfond Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
“We aren’t really clicking in any way, shape or form. That was a good learning experience for all of us,” Barr said.
The Black Bears have 13 newcomers, and 12 of them played in the exhibition game.
“We’re going to make mistakes, especially early on here,” Barr said. “We have a lot of guys who are trying to figure out how to play in our system. So we’re going to have to rely on hard work to cover up some of the ugliness in our game.”
Barr is in his fifth season at UMaine and is coming off the Black Bears’ first Hockey East Tournament championship since 2004.
UMaine was 24-8-6 a year ago and earned its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.
That means doing things like blocking shots and finishing hits, Barr explained.
The Black Bears will be taking on a veteran Holy Cross team that turned in an impressive 24-14-2 campaign last season and returns eight of its top nine point-getters.
The Crusaders lost to Bentley 6-3 in the AHA championship game.
Holy Cross opened its season with a 6-4 loss at Northeastern, although Northeastern’s last goal was an empty-netter. Holy Cross outshot Northeastern 29-24.
The two prominent departures from last season are AHA Player of the Year and Hobey Baker Award finalist Liam McLinskey (24 goals, 30 assists) and All-AHA first team goalie Thomas Gale (24-13-2 record, 2.14 goals-against average, .927 save percentage).
UMaine junior defenseman and assistant captain Frank Djurasevic called Holy Cross a really good team.
“Some Atlantic Hockey teams get overlooked but they play really hard, and they’re going to be fast and structured,” said Djurasevic. “They’re going to be all over us. They forecheck really hard so it’s going to be important for us to be on our details.”
Alfond Arena has undergone a $50 million upgrade and the Black Bears are looking forward to showcase the facility.
“Everyone is really excited to play in the Alfond for the first time this year and see all the fans fill this place up,” said senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt. “Holy Cross is going to be similar to UNH. They’re going to be in our face, they’re going to be mature. They’re going to be aggressive.”
UMaine holds a 4-2 edge in the lifetime series vs. Holy Cross but the teams haven’t played since 2003. UMaine is 3-0 vs. the Crusaders at Alfond Arena.
“They aren’t going to give us anything. We’re going to have to earn everything we get and we have to be okay with that,” Holt added. “We have to be okay with making simple plays and working to score goals.”
UMaine’s top returning scorers are right wing Josh Nadeau, who was third in points a year ago with 29 on 10 goals and 19 assists; Djurasevic (7 goals, 21 assists), right wing Charlie Russell (7 & 19), left wing Owen Fowler (10 & 10), Holt (4 & 16) and Freel (11 & 7).
“It feels like forever since we last played at the Alfond,” said senior left winger and co-captain Thomas Freel. “With the new facilities and the fan amenities going on outside this weekend, it should be an awesome experience.”
Sophomore defenseman Simon Motew, a transfer from St. Francis Xavier (Nova Scotia), and Brown University transfer Max Scott, brother of last year’s UMaine scoring leader Harrison Scott, had the UMaine goals in the exhibition vs. UNH.
Second team All-American and All-Hockey East second team goalie Albin Boija made 17 saves on 18 shots and freshman Mathis Rousseau stopped 19 of 20 shots.
Holy Cross’ top returning point-getters are Matt DeBoer and co-captain Devin Phillips, who each had 11 goals and 20 assists. Co-captain Mack Oliphant (3 & 26) was next and led the Crusader defensemen in points while being chosen to the All-AHA second team.
Philipps was a third team All-AHA choice in 2024-25 and a preseason All-AHA pick but didn’t play vs. Northeastern.
Jack Stockfish (15 & 12) was chosen the AHA Preseason Player of the Year. Matt Kursonis (10 & 15) was chosen to the All-Rookie team a year ago.
The Crusaders are inexperienced in goal.
Senior Louden Hogg made 19 saves vs. Northeastern in his ninth career appearance.
Vermont transfer goalie Connor MacKenzie appeared in three games in two seasons at UVM and Danick Leroux is a freshman.
