ORONO — The sellout crowd of 5,043 at Alfond Arena was as boisterous as it’s been all season. It was the final men’s hockey game of the season in the rink on the edge of the University of Maine campus, but it was a celebration. Fans left happy, knowing the Black Bears’ season is far from over. The message on the scoreboard made it clear: “See you in Boston.”

With Saturday’s 5-0 win over rival New Hampshire, Maine earned its first trip to the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden in a dozen years. An invitation to the NCAA Tournament – also a 12-year drought – is sure to follow for the Black Bears (23-10-2).

Maine will face Boston University at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the winner advancing to the championship game Saturday against Boston College or UMass.

“We’re at such an advantage in this building. I don’t think anybody had a bad game tonight. That’s what you need in the playoffs,” Maine Coach Ben Barr said. “We’ve got to go create another special moment.”

Bradly and Josh Nadeau, Maine’s brother combination and leading scorers, led the offense. Both scored a pair of goals and added two assists. Bradly Nadeau now has 19 goals and 26 assists, while Josh has 18 goals and 27 assists.

Nolan Renwick added three assists.

“Special players. These guys are difference makers. Give them a chance and they’re going to make you pay. Elite players do that… Their best guys beat us tonight,” UNH Coach Mike Souza said.

When these teams played twice in Durham, New Hampshire, a month ago, UNH (20-15-1) earned a sweep, scoring 11 goals over the two games. But after generating eight shots in the first period Saturday, the Wildcats had just 10 the rest of the game. A key was executing breakouts and getting into the attack quickly, said David Breazeale, a defenseman and Maine captain.

“Getting out of our zone fast, I think that was a big key for us,” Breazeale said.

Maine pulled away with three goals in the second period. The first came after just 52 seconds. Bradly Nadeau gained control of the puck in the neutral zone, skated down the left side and made a perfect pass to his brother, who was skating alone toward the net. Josh’s shot went under the glove of goalie Jakob Hellsten for a 1-0 lead.

“(Bradly) made a great play, beating two guys, and that left me alone. I just had to finish,” Josh Nadeau said.

The goal snapped UNH’s run of shutout hockey. Entering the game, Hellsten (20 saves) posted three consecutive shutout wins over UMass Lowell, including a 1-0 victory in the first round of the playoffs.

“We were saying once we get that first one, the floodgates were going to open,” Breazeale said. “That kid hadn’t been scored on in three games. He’s been playing really good hockey. For us to get the first one was huge.”

At 8:23, Ben Poisson made it 2-0 when he scored a power-play goal on the rebound of a Josh Nadeau shot. At 15:07, Josh Nadeau worked to keep the puck in the Wildcats’ zone, skated down the middle and fed a pass to Bradly, who fired a shot past Hellsten from the right circle.

Bradly Nadeau’s power-play goal at 8:48 of the third, on a shot from the circle that was deflected by a UNH defender, made it 4-0. The goal came with just seconds left on the power play. During a delay for an official review, the Black Bears drew up the play, with Breazeale feeding Nadeau for the one-timer. It worked exactly as planned.

“Never a bad idea to set up a Brad one-timer. It was fun. That’s part of hockey, having fun,” Breazeale said.

Josh Nadeau capped the scoring at 17:17 with a one-timer off a pass from his brother.

The teams played a scoreless first period, with neither generating many shots. The best chance went to the Wildcats, when Ryan Conmy ripped a shot off the crossbar with just over five and a half minutes left in the period.

Albin Boija made 18 saves for Maine to earn his second shutout of the season.

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