Josh Nadeau celebrates with UMaine teammates during a game last season. Nadeau is the Black Bears’ top returning scorer after finishing last season with 18 goals and 27 assists to help Maine reach the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time since 2012. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

ORONO — Now that the University of Maine men’s hockey team knows what it can do, it knows how hard it will be to do it again.

“All of us just have to get a little bit better. Sometimes the trap is, when you’re doing things the right way and think things are going to continue that way, is to take your foot off the pedal. Obviously we can’t do that,” Coach Ben Barr said after a recent practice.

Last season was the best in a dozen years for the Black Bears, who went 23-12-2 and earned a spot in the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time since 2012, where they lost to Cornell in the first round, 3-1. Maine, ranked No. 12 in the preseason USCHO.com poll, opens the season at home Oct. 5 against American International College.

The Black Bears have improved each of Barr’s first three seasons at the helm, since he was hired after the unexpected death of former coach Red Gendron in the spring of 2021. Maine went 7-22-4 in Barr’s first season before improving to 15-16-5 the following season. Last season’s 23 wins were the most for the team since the 2011-12 season. In January, Barr signed a contract extension that pays him $425,000 this season, with an annual increase of $15,000 through 2028.

As the team has improved, a seat in Alfond Arena has become the toughest ticket in the state. According to athletic department officials, there is now a waiting list 900 names deep for men’s hockey season tickets – the first time there’s been a waiting list in 20 years. Caleb Whittemore, assistant athletic director for ticket sales and operations, said most home games are sold out, although he expects a minimal number of walk-up tickets to become available for some games.

Growing up in Waterville, Kyle Bishop and his family had season tickets to Maine games throughout the early 2000s. As Kyle and his older brother, Cam, became more involved with high school hockey, the Bishops gave up the tickets for lack of time. Last season, his father, Mattanawcook Academy football coach Brad Bishop, decided to get a pair of season tickets again. Kyle joins his father for multiple games during the season.

“I’d love to see them get back (to the NCAA tournament) again,” said Bishop, who teaches physical education at Hall-Dale High in Farmingdale, where he also coaches the baseball team. “We enjoy how hard they play the game.”

Maine celebrates after scoring during a Hockey East quarterfinal against New Hampshire in March. Thanks to the Black Bears’ success last season, Alfond Arena will be filled to capacity this season. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

In 2022-23, the Black Bears’ average home attendance was 3,623, approximately 71% of Alfond’s capacity. Last season, as Maine climbed into the national top 10 in the weekly poll, average home attendance was 4,981, 97% of Alfond’s capacity.

“We have a lot of expectations around the state, and across the country, honestly. That’s something we’ve earned. We like being an underdog. We know we’re not a team full of 10, 12 draft picks like the teams we face up against,” said Lynden Breen, a fifth-year senior and co-captain.

This season, the only player on the roster who’s been drafted by an NHL team is senior forward Taylor Makar, who transferred from UMass this year. Picked by the Colorado Avalanche in the seventh round in 2021, he’s the younger brother of Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, the 2022 Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman. Last season, Maine’s only draft pick was Bradly Nadeau, who was selected 30th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2023 draft.

Nadeau led Maine in scoring last season with 19 goals and 27 assists in 37 games, then signed with Carolina shortly after the season concluded. Barr acknowledged the Black Bears cannot replace Nadeau’s production with one player. Nadeau’s older brother, Josh, returns after an 18-goal, 27-assist season. So do Breen (9-21-30), Harrison Scott (15-12-27), Thomas Freel (6-16-22), and defenseman Brandon Chabrier (6-6-16).

Barr also noted that recruiting doors that had been closed when the team struggled are opening, both for incoming freshmen and the transfer portal. Ross Mitton, a graduate student who played four seasons at Colgate, transferred to Maine after recording 11 goals and 19 assists last season to lead the Raiders in scoring. Barr thinks this is his deepest team yet, and now it’s about seeing which players take the step from being a good player to a very good player.

“Obviously, we’ve added some players this year that were interested in coming up here that probably two or three years ago, (we) wouldn’t be an option for them. That’s nice, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen next year,” Barr said. “We have to keep getting better as a program. The players have to feel like they’re getting better in developing and have a chance to win every night. That’s going to be our best recruiter, and obviously this building is a huge recruiting tool for us.”

The ongoing renovations at Alfond Arena could help. Co-captain David Breazeale, a senior defenseman, said the new locker rooms, weight room, and video room will be nice when completed, but the Black Bears aren’t interested in players who are simply looking for the shiniest facilities.

“It definitely makes a difference. Having a winning record and the buzz around here in Orono, the renovations and everything, it plays a role,” Breazeale said. “The cool thing about our program is we have guys who are coming here for the right reasons, not the fancy stuff. We want guys who are coming here because they want to be part of the culture here, not the nicest locker room in the country.”

A focus this season is taking the energy the team plays with at Alfond Arena, where the Black Bears went 13-2-2 last season, onto the road. Including neutral site games and a home game at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine was 9-10 away from Alfond last season. The way last season ended, with a loss to Boston University in the Hockey East semifinals followed by the loss to Cornell in the NCAA tournament, hasn’t been forgotten, said Barr.

“It sticks with you because you lost the last one. We didn’t make enough plays and we didn’t make enough saves. Our goal now as a program and our job is to make sure we learn from those experiences. The year before, we lost a home playoff game and we learned from that. You want to fast forward those things,” he said.