SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The University of Maine men’s hockey team enjoyed its best season in a dozen years, but it came to an end Thursday night with a 3-1 loss to Cornell in front of 5,765 fans at MassMutual Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Maine ends the season at 23-12-2, its most wins since the 2011-12 season, the last time it made the NCAA Tournament.

“They don’t beat themselves,” Maine Coach Ben Barr said of Cornell. “They’ve been doing the same thing, (even) when I played against Cornell for RPI. That’s a credit to their coaching staff.”

Maine played without freshman goalie Albin Boija, who had started every game over the past five weeks. According to Maine athletic communications, Boija was sick and did not participate in the team’s morning skate. Victor Ostman got the start, while Boija was able to dress and sit on the bench. After the game, Barr confirmed Boija didn’t feel well, and the team made the decision to go with Ostman in the morning.

An All-Hockey East selection last season, Ostman (15 saves) began the season as Maine’s starting goalie, starting 20 of Maine’s first 28 games. The senior had not played since starting in a 5-2 loss at UNH on Feb. 17.

The game started approximately 90 minutes late, after Denver needed double overtime to beat UMass, 2-1. Denver (29-9-3) and Cornell (27-6-6) will play at 4 p.m. Saturday for a spot in the Frozen Four.

Cornell Coach Mike Schafer said his team was less concerned about who was in Maine’s net, and more concerned that his young team would be flat after the long wait for the Denver-UMass game to finish.

“You just worry about yourself, not who their goalie is. We’ve got enough issues with nine freshmen,” Schafer said.

The Big Red focused on being the more physical team, and making sure freshman brothers Bradly and Josh Nadeau, the Black Bears top two scorers, never had the space to create plays.

“When you don’t have last change, everybody’s got to be aware. You don’t want to let those guys get on the rush,” Schafer said. “They can create some magic between themselves. I don’t think we gave them a 2-on-1 with them on the ice.”

Cornell’s defense made its biggest stand midway through the first period. Ahead 1-0 on a goal by Harrison Scott, the Black Bears had a golden opportunity to increase their lead when Cornell’s Ryan Walsh was issued a five-minute major for hitting from behind. While Maine got off five shots on goal with the long advantage, it couldn’t get one past Cornell goalie Ian Shane (31 saves).

“Ian made a couple huge saves. We had a great penalty kill, and that to me was the turning point of the game,” Schafer said.

Scott also thought that missed opportunities changed the game.

“We did everything we could except put the puck in the net. It’s just that simple. We were getting our opportunities. We were getting our looks. Their goalie stood on his head there,” Scott said.

Shane credited the defense in front of him for the win.

“They made my job really easy. The times there were rebounds, they cleared it away pretty quickly,” Shane said.

Cornell took a 2-1 lead at 12:09 of the second period when Sullivan Mack scored an unassisted goal with a shot from the left circle. Mack added a second unassisted goal at 10:31 of the third period to give the Big Red a two-goal cushion.

Maine took a 1-0 lead 5:43 into the first period. After forcing a turnover in the neutral zone Donovan Villeneuve-Houle skated into the zone and passed to a wide-open Scott, who fired a quick shot past Shane. The Big Red tied it at 1-1 at 13:56 on Kyle Penney’s shot from the slot.

Maine pulled Ostman with 2:32 to play for an extra attacker, but couldn’t generate a strong scoring chance.

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