ORONO, Maine — After one of the best regular seasons in recent history, the University of Maine's men's hockey team will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
After a selection show event on Sunday, the Black Bears learned they will head to the Springfield, Massachusetts regional and play Cornell in the opening round matchup Thursday night at 5:30.
No. 3 overall seed Denver and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst will play in the other game in the regional semi-final.
The team held a 'watch party' in Orono on Sunday and reacted to the news.
“It’s super exciting, it’s an absolute honor to be able play in the regionals and be one of the top 16 teams in the country," Co-captain David Breazeale said.
Breazeale and other co-captain Lynden Breen both said Cornell is a tough, fast team with a good goalie.
There was a possibility of Maine having to travel to South Dakota or Missouri for regionals, this news means it will be a much shorter commute for both the team and the fans.
"Especially after last weekend the amount of support we had in Boston was incredible, I’m sure we’re going to have quite a few of them travel down to Springfield as well," Breen added.
“It was amazing and can’t thank [the fans] enough, and we’re looking forward to seeing some Maine fans again in Springfield, so we’re fortunate to not be too far from home up here in Orono," Breazeale added.
Black Bears fans filled up the TD Garden in Boston Friday as Maine played in the Hockey East Tournament. While the team lost to Boston University 4-1, it was a crucial learning opportunity for a team with players who have yet to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“You can't have the experience until you have the experience, you can never create that moment in a practice, so you have to go through those things," head coach, Ben Barr, said Sunday.
Barr said every team in the tournament is "fantastic" and called Cornell one of the best-coached teams in the country.
The third-year head coach knows Cornell well from his playing days at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and during his time as an assistant coach at Union College. Both schools play in Cornell's conference, the ECAC. Cornell beat St. Lawrence for the ECAC conference tournament championship over the weekend.
So far this season, Cornell (21-6-6) scored an average of 3.4 goals per game, while opponents were at 1.9 goals per game. Junior goalie, Ian Shane, started 32 games for the Big Red, averaging 1.7 goals per game with a .922 save percentage, according to Cornell statistics.
Meanwhile the Black Bears have scored 3.3 goals per game while allowing 2.5 goals per game. Albin Boija and Victor Ostman nearly split the season between the pipes for Maine. Boija has a .916 save percentage in the 18 games he's seen action in and Ostman posted a .894 save percentage in the 20 games he's played, according to UMaine statistics.
Barr is also familiar with another team in the Springfield regional, UMass. He was an assistant coach in Amherst for five seasons and helped lead the Minutemen to their first ever National Championship in 2021.
Current UMass head coach Greg Carvel did mention Maine fans in a social media post Sunday as he encouraged UMass fans to buy tickets for the regional games because if they don't, Maine "fans will buy all of them", his post on the social media platform X said.
“Because [UMass] knew Black Bear nation would be coming down, so hopefully they saved some tickets for us," Barr responded in a jokingly manner.
You can purchase tickets for Thursday's game here.
This story will be updated.