On Nov. 6, 2021, the University of Maine’s hockey team under first-year head coach Ben Barr was 0-7-1.
The Black Bears gave Barr his first win as a head coach on Nov. 12, a 6-5 overtime win over Merrimack courtesy of a goal by freshman defenseman David Breazeale off an assist from sophomore center Lynden Breen.
UMaine would win only six more games the rest of the season.
Fast forward two and a half years and Breazeale and Breen are the co-captains of a Black Bear team that will be playing in an NCAA Regional Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
UMaine, 23-11-2, will take on ECAC tournament champion Cornell, 21-6-6, in Thursday’s first round of the Springfield, Mass. regional at the MassMutual Center.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference champ Denver, 28-9-3, will face UMass, 20-13-3, in the tourney opener at 2 p.m.
The winners will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn. on April 11-13.
UMaine, picked to finish ninth in Hockey East in the preseason coaches poll, wound up third and is currently ranked sixth in the country in both major polls.
No matter how UMaine does the rest of the way, it will finish with the program’s best record since the 2005-06 team wound up 28-12-2.
Breazeale and Barr aren’t surprised that the team has made a dramatic turnaround in such a short period of time.
Breazele said even though the team went 7-22-4 his freshman season, “there was a lot of belief in our locker room that we could turn things around and that we would get to compete for a national title.
“The first year was tough but we could see what we had at the time and I’m excited it has come to fruition even faster than a lot of people anticipated,” said Breazeale.
“It’s really special. It’s an amazing feeling,” said Breazeale. “I’m really honored that we are one of the top 16 teams in the country and we are competing for a national championship.”
“With the work we have put in, we deserve this,” said freshman left wing and leading scorer Bradly Nadeau.
Barr pointed out that it took three years to reach the NCAA Tournament when he was an assistant at Union College, Providence College, Western Michigan and UMass although he had left after two seasons at Providence and Western Michigan.
“It feels like it takes forever,” said the 42-year-old Barr. “But it had always been the third year for me. When a new coaching staff goes to a bad team, the process usually takes three years.
“There are ways to do it quicker now with the (NCAA transfer) portal and if you have lots of money but that’s not really our thing,” said Barr, whose Black Bears went 15-16-5 a year ago.
He said one of the primary keys to success is having “really good human beings” on your team like Breazeale and Breen.
“Those guys are high-character kids and eventually they get better. They’re never going to get outworked,” said Barr. “And I have a really good staff.
“Those are the things that matter. It takes a lot of really good people,” said Barr referring to assistants Jason Fortier, Alfie Michaud and Eric Soltys along with sports performance coach Codi Fitzgerald, director of hockey operations Nick Fonzi, athletic trainer Paul Culina and equipment manager Kevin Ritz.
Barr said the most important aspect of the turnaround has been changing the culture.
For example, he instituted an optional six-week summer workout program at the school for the players to train together beginning two summers ago and virtually every one of his players attended them.
“Every other team does it. If we wait to get together until Sept. 1 or Oct. 1 and then we go out and play BC (Boston College), we’re going to get beat by eight goals,” said Barr.
He said the support his program has received from UMaine chancellor Dannel Malloy, president Joan Ferrini-Mundy, senior associate athletic director for development and capital planning Seth Woodcock, director of athletics Jude Killy and the Harold Alfond Foundation has been extremely valuable to the turnaround.
The Harold Alfond Foundation has given the athletic department a $170 million gift to upgrade the athletic facilities and a $45 million upgrade to Alfond Arena will begin this spring.
A year ago, a new state-of-the-art scoreboard and new sound system were among the improvements to the 48-year-old arena.
“They made a huge difference in the game day experience for everybody. Fans can see what’s on the scoreboard and hear what the (public address announcer) is saying. Maybe we get 100 or 200 more fans because of it.
“Everything matters,” he added.
There have been other subtle improvements like a more concerted effort devoted to the upkeep of the arena on a daily basis, he said.
And the addition of a beer garden adjacent to the Alfond Arena next season will enhance the game day experience and provide additional revenue.
The Black Bears played in front of 11 sell-out crowds in their 17 home games and, on average, the arena had over 97 percent of the seats filled per game, one of the best rates in the country among the 64 Division I programs.
And there was a huge throng of fans at the TD Garden in Boston for the Hockey East semifinals where the Black Bears lost to Boston University 4-1.
“That (turnout) was incredible. It shows how much this program means to people. It’s awesome,” said Barr.
The veteran players have had a crucial role in the creation of the positive environment, said Barr.
“They know what’s going on. They know what the standard is. They know what failure is and what success looks like. They know how to win by not beating yourselves and outworking teams,” said Barr.
He said he won’t be satisfied unless “we win the next four games (and a national championship).
“What we have today could be gone tomorrow if we don’t keep going. We have to keep pushing and we will,” said Barr.
The success, the fan support and the rink renovations will help recruiting but he said “we are never going to have (recruits) knocking down our door like at Boston College, Boston University, Minnesota or Michigan.
“If a certain type of kid wants to come up here, that’s fine. It’s a certain type of program. If they need all the fanciness and people telling them how great things are all the time, this isn’t the place for them,” said Barr. “We have to be very similar to our surroundings: a blue- collar, hard-working team.
“Now, if you can get some high-end guys like we have right now with some of our young kids, it’s awesome.
“But even with the renovations, we understand what we are. We have a great hockey environment and, as a staff, we’re going to tell it like it is and the right kids will appreciate that,” said Barr.
“We aren’t a finished product. Nobody out there is deferring to Maine. But we’re in the fight now and we haven’t been in the fight for a long, long time. This is step one,” he added.
