On March 9, 2022, Merrimack College bounced the University of Maine from the Hockey East playoffs with a comfortable 6-2 home win over the Black Bears.
That was UMaine’s 22nd loss to go with seven wins and four ties in Ben Barr’s first year as the Black Bears’ head coach.
Current graduate student Lynden Breen and seniors David Breazeale and Nolan Renwick are the only Black Bears who played in that game and are still playing at UMaine. Breen had one of the two goals that night in 2022.
Nearly three years later, the trio will be honored on Saturday as part of Senior Night along with two-year Black Bear Harrison Scott and newcomers Taylor Makar and Ross Mitton.
Scott transferred to UMaine from Bentley two years ago and Makar and Mitton came in from UMass and Colgate, respectively, before this season.
“Playing at Alfond never gets old. I’ll be telling people about this my entire life. These were four of the best years of my life,” said Breazeale. “It’s crazy how fast it’s gone.”
The Black Bears are hosting Vermont for an important Hockey East series on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
UMaine, ranked fifth in the country, is 19-6-5 overall and 11-4-5 in Hockey East while Vermont is 11-16-3 and 6-12-2, respectively.
In addition to their 7-22-4 record in 2021-22, the Black Bears were 5-17-2 in Hockey East, 6-9-3 at Alfond Arena and 1-13-1 on the road.
Since that time, they have gone 57-34-12 overall, 34-24-10 in league play; 36-11-6 at Alfond Arena and 19-20-6 on the road.
They reached the Hockey East semifinals and the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season a year ago and, barring a complete collapse, will be returning to the NCAA Tournament this season.
“It’s pretty special how far we’ve come as a team, as individuals, as a whole program,” said center Renwick after Tuesday’s practice. “I’m pretty proud of what the seniors have done here over these four years. It’s only going to get better from here.”
Brezeale said the dramatic turnaround is a “testament to the coaching staff and to the guys we’ve brought in to help turn this culture around and make it a winning, championship culture.”
He said the program is bringing in the right people and players to represent both the community and the school.
“Coach Barr had a vision of the kind of guys that he wanted to help set that up and I was fortunate enough to be a part of that my freshman year. It’s come a long way since then,” said Breazeale. “It’s been really special but we haven’t reached our final goal yet.”
He was referring to an NCAA championship.
Breen was honored at Seniors Night last year and is the the only Black Bear who played for the late Red Gendron during the COVID-abbreviated 3-11-2 season in 200-21. Gendron died on April 9, 2021 and Barr was later hired from UMass to replace him.
Breen said Breazeale and Renwick deserve “huge credit” for helping Barr and the coaching staff “bring the program back to how it used to be and creating our own kind of legacy within that.”
“They’re massive leaders and will be successful in everything they do in life,” Breen added.
Barr credited Breen, Breazeale and Renwick with “creating the culture” for the Black Bears.
“We owe a lot to them. And Scott, Ross and Taylor have also been huge parts. It was a seamless integration into our culture,” Barr said.
“It has been so cool. It was my dream to play Division I hockey and this has blown my expectations out of the park,” said Scott. “I’m so grateful to be a part of this and I want it to end right. I want to leave my legacy here.”
Scott said he’s viewing this as the beginning of the Black Bears’ run.
“We’re just getting started for the last push,” he added.
Makar said he is thankful to have his last year here after three years at UMass.
“Getting to know all the guys has been great. This has been a special year of my life,” said Makar.
“This year has meant everything to me,” said Mitton. “Coming here was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
The players said they will never forget the energized atmosphere at Alfond Arena and that will provide them with lifelong memories.
“The crazy part about it is, even when we weren’t good my first year, even though the fans didn’t show up to the extent that they are now, they were still loyal and showed up every weekend to support us. That’s when you know your fan base is really special,” said Renwick.
Breen returned to the lineup last Friday for the first time since suffering a broken fibula on Nov. 30. Friday’s game was a 3-2 overtime loss at UConn.
Breen said he had to knock off some rust but he was satisfied with his first game back.
“I got my feet under myself after the first few shifts. It wasn’t too bad,” said Breen, “Lucky for me our practices are very intense and they prepared me pretty well.”
Breen will enter this weekend having played 136 career games at UMaine and collected 47 goals and 64 assists for 111 points.
“Now that I’ve got a game under my belt, I’m pretty confident and comfortable and set for the weekend,” he added.
Renwick has played in 124 games with 23-29-52 and Breazeale has 8-38-46 in 136 games. Scott has 31-27-58 in 67 games at UMaine after notching 12-14-26 in 65 contests at Bentley.
Makar has 13-11-24 in 30 games at UMaine after a 15-7-22 scoreline in 85 games at UMass.
Mitton has 29-53-82 in 158 career games including 3-7-10 in his 28 games at UMaine.
Scott continues to lead the Black Bears in scoring this year with 16 goals and 15 assists followed by Makar (13 & 11), Josh Nadeau (7 & 15), Frank Djurasevic (6 & 16) and Charlie Russell (6 & 15). Sophomore goalie Albin Boija has the nation’s second-best goals-against average (1.64) and seventh-best save percentage (.931). He has an 18-6-5 record with four shutouts.
Vermont has been led by Joel Maatta (9 & 16), Colin Kessler (11 & 11), Max Strand (7 & 13), Massimo Lombardi (8 & 10) and Timofei Spitserov (11 & 6).
Axel Mangbo (9-11, 2.96, .891, 3 shutouts) and Keenan Rancier (2-5-3, 3.18, .887) have shared the goaltending for UVM.
Vermont has been much better on the road with an 8-6-1 record compared to its 3-10-2 home mark. UMaine is 12-2-3 at Alfond Arena.