Graduate student center and co-captain Lynden Breen knew the first time he met Ben Barr that the University of Maine’s hockey program was going to be in good hands.
Barr replaced the late Red Gendron four years ago after serving as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Massachusetts.
The previous year, which was Breen’s freshman campaign, the Black Bears had gone 3-11-2 in the COVID-abbreviated season.
Breen said Barr “had so much determination and work ethic” that it was “almost undeniable” to think that the program would move in the right direction, crediting Barr for “how he carries himself and how he leads as a coach.”
Breen’s comments came after practice on Tuesday as second seed UMaine, boasting a 22-7-6 record, was preparing for Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. Hockey East semifinal game against ninth seed Northeastern (14-19-3) at the TD Garden in Boston.
Northeastern is the lowest seed to ever reach the semifinals.
Fourth seed UConn (21-10-4) and third seed Boston University (21-12-2) will meet in the 4:00 semifinal and the winners will play in the championship game on Friday at 7:30.
The Black Bears won only seven games in Barr’s first season, going 7-22-4 overall and 5-17-2 in Hockey East. They finished last and were ousted in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs by Merrimack, 6-2.
But a turnaround began in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign, and that will lead to a second straight NCAA tournament appearance this season.
During that 2022-23 season, the Black Bears went 6-1-3 between Jan. 27-Feb. 25 as part of a 13-5-4 stretch that followed a 2-8-1 start to the season.
UMaine got swept at home by UMass in its final regular season series that year, and got upset by Vermont 4-2 in its Hockey East first round game.
But the Black Bears had tasted sustained success for the first time in a while, and it laid the foundation for 20-plus win campaigns both last season and this season.
Breen and senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale said that 22-game stretch two seasons ago following the poor start validated their belief that the program was beginning its ascension to national championship contention.
“We started playing really good hockey. We were outworking teams,” said Breazeale. “We started buying into the mindset that we’re going to be the underdog and we’re going to play as hard as we can.”
Then the team started adding more skilled players and developing more depth, Breazeale explained.
“But we kept the same mindset and that’s where the success has come from,” he continued.
Breen also cited that underdog mentality, and pointed to the momentum that started later in the season two years ago.
“We took a big step after Christmas and since then we’ve been a [tough] team to beat,” said Breen. “We’ve always had that underdog mentality and the past few years we’ve been a team not too many people want to play.”
UMaine’s 22 victories this season coupled with the 23 last year (23-12-2) are the most combined wins (45) in back-to-back seasons for the program since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 teams teamed up to win 51 games (51-27-4).
This season’s record is the best since the 2003-04 team went 33-8-3.
Regardless of what happens at the Hockey East tournament, UMaine has already locked up an NCAA Tournament berth as the Black Bears are currently third in the Pairwise Rankings, which emulate the NCAA Tournament selection process.
A year ago, the Black Bears reached the Hockey East semifinals for the first time since the 2011-12 season a year ago but lost to Boston University 4-1 in that round.
“It’s so exciting. I’ve never played in the [TD] Garden before,” said UMaine sophomore defenseman Frank Djurasevic. “We’re ready. Everybody is working hard.”
UMaine and Northeastern met three times this season with UMaine earning 4-1 and 3-1 victories and the teams also skating to a 2-2 tie.
“There are great teams in the tournament. But we’re just going to focus on ourselves and what makes us the best team we can be and we’re going to follow through on those things,” said Djurasevic.
UMaine senior left wing Taylor Makar scored both game-winners against Northeastern in the regular season, and he also had an empty-net goal.
Sophomore right wing Josh Nadeau is UMaine’s leading scorer against Northeastern with a goal and four assists over six games the past two seasons while junior left wing Cam Lund (3 goals, 4 assists) and Biddeford junior center Jack Williams (1 & 5) are NU’s top point-producers all-time vs. UMaine.
Sophomore goalies Albin Boija from UMaine and Cameron Whitehead from Northeastern will square off in Thursday’s matchup.
Boija is 3-1-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in five starts against Northeastern while Whitehead is 2-3-1 with a 2.31 GAA and .934 save percentage in six starts vs. UMaine.
