Resiliency and goaltending.

When you look at this week’s Frozen Four or any Frozen Four, the eventual national champion must be resilient and receive stellar goaltending.

The resiliency comes into play because there are going to be periods of time when you will get outplayed or when a referee makes a questionable call against you or there may just be a bad bounce of the puck.

You must play through it. There are no weak sisters in the Frozen Four.

They are teams which have either been outstanding throughout the year or teams which are peaking at the right time.

So, you are going to find yourselves back on your heels.

That is when you must keep your composure and play tenacious team defense.

You can’t get frustrated. You have to stick with your man. There are no goals awarded for time of possession in the offensive zone.

You can’t afford to give up any tap-in goals, breakaways, or odd-man rushes.

You must give your goaltender the opportunity to make a save and not leave him hanging out to dry.

Conversely, goaltenders must make all the routine saves and a couple of game-savers.

Soft goals are magnified in the Frozen Four.

The resiliency also comes into play when it comes to handling a tough break.

Remember Maine’s Patrice Tardif’s no-goal against Michigan in 1993 in which the net was lifted a tad allowing the puck to actually slide under it after it clearly crossed the goal line?

Undaunted, Maine came back to win in overtime.

And how about BC surrendering two late goals to North Dakota that forced overtime last year? But the Eagles prevailed.

This Maine team is certainly capable of winning the NCAA title.

It is playing its best hockey of the season and is buoyed by the motivation of playing for the memory of late head coach Shawn Walsh.

The matchup with New Hampshire in the semifinal on Thursday will be a gem.

UNH has a few more snipers and has a legitimate top-of-the-line game-breaker in Hobey Baker Award finalist Darren Haydar.

Haydar doesn’t dazzle you with his speed or moves, but he has such a great mind that he sees plays evolving ahead of time.

Being the higher seed, New Hampshire will get the last line change. In their 3-1 win over Maine in the Hockey East final, UNH coach Dick Umile put the Haydar line with Sean Collins and Steve Saviano on as much as he could against Maine’s Lucas Lawson-Marty Kariya-Niko Dimitrakos line.

There was just one even-strength goal in the game and that was by Saviano late to clinch it.

Maine will have to play physical as it did in the BU series in Boston at the end of the regular season.

It needs to do a better job throwing the puck to the front of the net and digging for garbage goals.

There are four offensive-minded defensemen among Maine’s six and they are starting to get even more involved in the offense.

They need to one-time the puck more efficiently, even if it means shoveling the puck to the front of the net. Goalies can rarely control rebounds off reaction saves that would be required in this instance.

Maine’s goaltending has been very good in the postseason, but it will have to be a tad better in the Frozen Four.

Four players to keep an eye on for Maine: Lucas Lawson, Tommy Reimann, Francis Nault, and Todd Jackson.

Lawson and Jackson have been beating defensemen wide with their speed all season and look for them to continue and to cut in to the net; Reimann has been playing well and will be even more motivated playing in front of friends and family in Minnesota; and defenseman Nault had a great regional, creating Grade-A scoring chances with his stickhandling prowess.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.