The 2022–23 Maine Black Bears Men's ice hockey season was the 48th season of play for the program, the 46th season competing at the Division I level, and the 39th in the Hockey East conference. The Black Bears represented the University of Maine and played their home games at Alfond Arena, and were coached by Ben Barr, in his 2nd season as head coach.
After a very trying season, Maine was looking to get back on track in '23. The first hurdle for the team was dealing with the sheer amount of new faces as more than half of the previous season's players had departed. While the Black Bears would be getting a new starting goaltender, most of their top offensive players were back, which at least gave the team a foundation for this season. Early on, the team performed well and managed to take down #3 Quinnipiac with a rather stunning 4–0 victory. That surprise win, however, was the start of an 8-game stretch where Maine faced all ranked opponents. Unfortunately, the team was unable to win any of the other games and plummeted to the bottom of the conference standings. Several of the games in that stretch were close but the Bears' offense wasn't quite up to par.
The team ended the skid after Thanksgiving and were finally able to find some consistency in their game. They finished out the first half of the season with four consecutive wins but they had a daunting task before them. With little chance to receive an at-large bid, Maine was playing for pride in the second half. With Lynden Breen leading the way, The Black Bears posted several more impressive wins, taking four games from ranked teams. Aside from the three matches against Boston University, Maine looked good even in defeat and managed to climb their way up to 6th in the conference.
The Black Bears entered the postseason in a decent position, facing off against Hockey East bottom-feeder Vermont. Maine got into the lead twice and controlled the game for the first 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately, a strong third period from the Catamounts saw the momentum swing and suddenly the Bears were trailing. Down a goal, Maine got a power play with just under 2 minutes left in regulation. Victor Östman was pulled for an extra attacker to give the Black Bears a de facto 2-man advantage. However, Vermont managed to score into the empty net and seal the game, ending Maine's season.[1]
| Adrien Bisson | Defenseman | Transferred to Mercyhurst | ||
| Simon Butala | Defenseman | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Adam Dawe | Forward | Graduate transfer to Connecticut | ||
| A. J. Drobot | Forward | Left program (retired) | ||
| Tim Gould | Defenseman | Left program (retired) | ||
| Edward Lindelöw | Forward | Graduation (signed with Västerviks IK) | ||
| Brad Morrissey | Forward | Left program (retired) | ||
| Jonny Mulera | Forward | Left program (retired) | ||
| Tristan Poissant | Forward | Left program (retired) | ||
| Jack Quinlivan | Forward | Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers) | ||
| Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup | Forward | Graduate transfer to Clarkson | ||
| Cameron Spicer | Defenseman | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Keenan Suthers | Forward | Graduation (signed with Toronto Marlies) | ||
| Matthew Thiessen | Goaltender | Transferred to Minnesota Duluth | ||
| Perry Winfree | Defenseman | Left program (retired) | ||
| Emil Westerlund | Forward | Graduation (signed with Almtuna IS) |
| Luke Antonacci | Defenseman | 19 | Princeton, NJ | ||
| Grayson Arnott | Defenseman | 21 | Toronto, ON | ||
| Aidan Carney | Forward | 21 | Paradise Valley, AZ
| ||
| Brandon Chabrier | Defenseman | 20 | Bayville, NY | ||
| Samuel Duerr | Defenseman | 20 | Chicago, IL | ||
| Thomas Freel | Forward | 21 | Aberdeen, SCO | ||
| Cole Hanson | Forward | 22 | Grand Forks, ND
| ||
| Didrik Henbrant | Forward | 24 | Sturefors, SWE
| ||
| Brandon Holt | Defenseman | 21 | Grand Forks, ND | ||
| Thomas Killian Kiecker-Olson | Forward | 21 | Andover, MN | ||
| Robert Kincaid | Defenseman | 20 | Barrhead, AB | ||
| Parker Lindauer | Forward | 21 | Madison, WI | ||
| Michael Mancinelli | Forward | 21 | Northville, MI | ||
| Justin Michaelian | Forward | 24 | Wixom, MI
| ||
| Jacob Mucitelli | Goaltender | 22 | Deerfield, NY
| ||
| Reid Pabich | Forward | 20 | Verona, WI | ||
| Félix Trudeau | Forward | 20 | Terrebonne, QC |
As of January 4, 2023.[2]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=";" | |-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 36 | 21 | 15 | 36 | 22 | |||
| 36 | 9 | 17 | 26 | 27 | |||
| 36 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 16 | |||
| 36 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 16 | |||
| 36 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 39 | |||
| 34 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 24 | |||
| 36 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 27 | |||
| 36 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 36 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 10 | |||
| 24 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 2 | |||
| 34 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 25 | |||
| 30 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 6 | |||
| 36 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 22 | |||
| 28 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 14 | |||
| 31 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | |||
| 24 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | |||
| 28 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 25 | |||
| 20 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |||
| 19 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 22 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | |||
| 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |||
| 33 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||
| 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||
| Total | 92 | 167 | 259 | 333 |
|---|
| 33 | 1874:39 | 14 | 12 | 4 | 69 | 773 | 5 | .918 | 2.21 | ||
| 3 | 134:27 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 45 | 0 | .865 | 3.12 | ||
| 4 | 161:29 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 61 | 0 | .824 | 4.83 | ||
| Empty Net | - | 21:25 | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 36 | 2192:00 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 94 | 879 | 5 | .903 | 2.57 |
|---|
See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.
| Poll | Week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 (Final) | ||||
| USCHO.com | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Victor Östman | Hockey East Second Team | [5] |
| Lynden Breen | ||
| 1 | 30 | Bradly Nadeau † | Carolina Hurricanes |