2024–25 Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey season

The 2024–25 Maine Black Bears Men's ice hockey season was the 50th season of play for the program, the 48th season competing at the Division I level, and the 41st in Hockey East. The Black Bears represented the University of Maine, played their home games at the Alfond Arena and were coached by Ben Barr in his 4th season.

After posting their first 20-win season in more than a decade, Maine came into this season with high expectations.^[1] While the Black bears had lost their leading scorer from the year before Bradly Nadeau, they retained the services of Albin Boija, who had taken over as the team's starting goaltender in the second half. Boija's outstanding play was evident from the very start of the season as he posted back-to-back shutouts in the first week. Maine could continue to benefit from his performance throughout the entire season as he put up some of the best numbers in the country and went on to be named as a second team All-American.^[2]

With a solid foundation in goal, Maine was also able to bring a good offensive effort to bear and lost just 2 games in the first half of the season (both to Boston College). The team received a huge boost from the addition of several transfer players but none were more surprising that Taylor Makar. The Calgary Flames draft pick had a largely unremarkable career to that point with just 22 points during his three seasons at Massachusetts. Once he donned the Bears' sweater, however, he was able to find a fit for his game and posted a career year. Not only did he shatter his previous career highs but he more than doubled his totals in both goals and points in his senior season. With other new players Frank Djurasevic, Charlie Russell and Owen Fowler also featuring prominently in Maine's offensive attack, the team was able to take advantage of the few number of goals they allowed.

The extended winning streaks the Black Bears were able to put together had them consistently ranked in the top 10 of the national polls. By the time Christmas rolled around, Maine was up to #3 in the PairWise rankings and was well on its way to earning a tournament bid. However, upon the team's return from the winter break, the Bears suffered a stunning loss when the team was felled by Bentley. The loss was made all the more surprising by Maine completely outplaying their opposition on the ice but failing to convert on five of their six power plays, which included a major penalty.^[3] After splitting with defending champions Denver the following week, Maine was soon able to recover its early-season momentum and only lost two games over the next eight weeks.

As the team battled through a tenacious bunch of Hockey East opponents, the offense declined from the lofty totals its had produced in the first half of the year, however, the team was still able to fire at a consistent clip. When the dust settled on the regular season, Maine had finished second in the standings. While that was impressive in its own right, it was made more so by the fact that Hockey East was highest-ranked league in all of college hockey that season. The Black Bears had passed through the gauntlet with flying colors and were guaranteed a spot in the national tournament regardless of their performance in the conference playoffs.

Even with that in mind, the Black Bears were not content to rest on their laurels and kicked off their postseason run with a dominating performance over a collapsing Massachusetts Lowell team. The relatively easy win sent them to semifinal round where they took on a surging Northeastern. Maine got off to a good start and was able to build a 2-goal lead early in the second period. The Huskies countered and evened the score before the start of the third, then took the lead themselves less then five minutes into the final frame. Maine kicked its offense into high gear and began firing the puck on goal. With about 7 minutes to play, Luke Antonacci managed to break through and tie the match with just his second goal of the campaign. Maine continued to demonstrate a superior ability to control the puck for the rest of the game but the Huskies' netminder was putting up a tremendous show keeping his team in the match. However, Maine's constant attack eventually wore down Northeaster's defense and Nolan Renwick scored the winning goal after the Huskies fell asleep and allowed him to set up shot along the side of the net.^[4]

The championship game pitted Maine against Connecticut, who had given the Bears fits during the season. Wanting to avenge their earlier losses, Maine played a very conscientious game and didn't take a single penalty in the match. UConn took only one themselves but the Black Bears were still able to convert on the advantage and used that to help build an early lead. The defense stayed strong and limited the scoring chances for the Huskies, while Boija turned aside everything through the first two periods. With UConn down by 3 goals entering the final period, they opened up the offense and started capitalizing on their chances. However, they had to sacrifice their defense in order to try and get back into the game and Maker made them pay by answering both of the Connecticut goals in the third.^[5] Maine's championship was the first for the program in over 20 years, which not only gave them the conference's automatic bid but allowed Maine to receive a #1 seed.

Their position as the third overall seed should have given Maine an advantageous position for tournament selection, however, circumstances conspired against the Black Bears. Despite winning their conference title, Maine still found itself rated below Boston College, thanks in no small part to losing their early season matches. This meant that BC received priority seeding and were awarded the Manchester Regional while the Bears had to settle for Allentown. While travelling slightly further was only a chose for the fans, it was the matchup that turned out to be the real problem for Maine. Ordinarily, Maine would have been set to face the #14 overall seed, Minnesota State, however, because the #13 seed Penn State, was the host for the Allentown Regional, they were slotted as Maine's opponent instead.

At the time, Penn State was one of the hottest teams in the country, having gone 12–3–1 despite facing down some of the toughest coemption in the country. As the game played out, the Nittany Lions proved to be a terrible match for Maine in the first round of the tournament. Maine was able to get on the board first with a lucky bounce just past the 4-minute mark. Unfortunately, that was a good as the game got for the Bears. Soon after, Maine took their first penalty of the game and it took less than 10 seconds for Penn State to even the score. The Lions completely took over the remainder of the period, scoring twice more, which included another power play marker, and ended the first periods in total control of the match. Maine came out flying in the second period but was unable to chip away at the Penn State lead. Instead, a bad turnover behind their own net resulted in another goal from the Nittany Lions. That marker allowed Penn State to play a mostly defensive game for the remainder of the match and Maine was unable to break through. Boije was pulled with several minutes left in the third period but a empty-net goal with three and half minutes to play effectively ended the game.^[6]

As of August 15, 2024.^[7]

^[9]

Note: Bērziņš and Boija shared the shutout against Merrimack on November 2.

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.^[10]
Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.