Ben Guite had whittled down his prospective schools to the Miami University in Ohio and the University of Maine.

“I thought Miami was a great school and the atmosphere was awesome,” recalled Guite.

But his hockey coach at the time, Capital Districts Selects (N.Y.) coach Jim Salfi, father of former Black Bears winger and penalty-killing specialist Kent Salfi, had a little talk with Guite.

“He asked me, `Ben, do you want to be the best player on your team and an All-American or do you want to win a national championship? If you want to win a national championship, go to Maine,’ ” said Guite. “He was right.”

Maine won the national championship a year ago and now Guite is hoping to lead the Bears to back-to-back Division I titles.

“I told him about the situation Kent went through,” said Salfi referring to his son’s change of heart that led him to Maine after he verbally committed to attend Vermont. Kent Salfi played on the 1992-93 national championship team.

“Knowing the program at Maine and the intensity they have, they will always be a contender one way or the other,” said Jim Salfi.

If they pull it off this season, the Black Bears will become the first team to do so since Boston University accomplished the feat in 1971 and ’72.

Maine faces North Dakota in one NCAA Frozen Four semifinal Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Providence Civic Center, followed by Boston College vs. St. Lawrence at 7 p.m.

Guite has been one of the major reasons the Bears are two wins away from their third national championship in eight years.

The 6-1, 197-pound senior has a team-leading 22 goals, including five game-winners and a nation-leading 15 power-play goals. He also has 14 assists in 39 games.

He had two goals in the 5-2 NCAA quarterfinal win over Michigan last Sunday and was Maine’s lone selection to the all-tourney team.

He entered the season with 25 goals and 35 assists in 106 games through his first three campaigns.

“His whole role has probably evolved to the point where he is a goal scorer,” said Providence coach Paul Pooley. “He puts himself in [goal-scoring] situations. He’s smart, he moves around and he has a good stick in front of the net.”

Maine coach Shawn Walsh described Guite as a “power forward.

“He goes to the net better than anybody on our team,” added Walsh.

Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder noted that Guite has kept “getting better and better.”

His progression from checker to scorer has been steady but gradual.

“A lot of it has to do with confidence,” said Guite, who came to Maine as an 18-year-old. “I don’t know if I was mature enough my first two years. I’d get the puck in the open ice and I’d just want to get rid of it. It’s like I had two tons of brick in my skates.

“I feel more comfortable now and a lot of it has to do with learning about the game here,” said Guite. “I’ve started doing things I used to do before I got here.”

The turning point in his career came Oct. 17, 1998. It was the second game of a two-game series at Nebraska-Omaha and he got benched after a lackluster performance in a Maine victory the previous night.

“For two weeks after that, I did a lot of soul-searching,” said Guite. “I hadn’t done much in college, I hadn’t dominated games like I wanted to. So I decided to really focus on hockey. That night in Omaha really opened my eyes.”

Guite admitted he had gotten caught up in the social life at Maine.

“I’m not saying I stopped having fun off the ice. But every time I stepped into the rink, I concentrated and focused on hockey and that helped me out a lot,” said Guite, who was a seventh-round draft pick of his hometown Montreal Canadiens in 1997.

His father, seven-year World Hockey Association winger Pierre Guite, had driven to Maine the following weekend to console his son.

“I told him if he couldn’t handle this type of treatment in college, he would never survive in pro hockey. It was only going to get worse in pro hockey,” said Pierre Guite.

The younger Guite’s attitude adjustment led to more ice time. He capped a 28-point junior year with a goal and an assist in the Frozen Four to help the Bears claim the national title.

He was named an assistant captain and spent the summer roofing and working out with senior left winger and captain Cory Larose.

“Ben is one of the hardest-working guys I’ve dealt with in a long time,” said Larose. “He is known for the hard-nosed way he goes to the net but he makes a lot of really smart plays that people don’t notice. His improvement over the years has been amazing.”

His dad noticed one of those subtle intelligent plays on Niko Dimitrakos’ goal in the 4-2 Hockey East semifinal win over Boston University.

“Ben had the puck in the slot and had a pretty good view of the play. He could have shot but he saw Niko coming in and knew Niko would have a lot better shot,” said Pierre, who watched his son drop off a nice pass to Dimitrakos.

“Ben plays more intelligently without the puck now. He blocks the view of the goaltender,” he added. “And I recently saw him stick-block an opposing defenseman so one of his teammates could get off a shot.”

Ben Guite said the biggest area of development for him has been his skating.

“I’ve improved a lot,” said Guite. “I wanted to adjust to the college game. I had to or I wouldn’t be able to play in Hockey East. When I came here, Maine had Steve Kariya along with Jason and Shawn Mansoff. I had to develop a better stride or be left behind.”

His combination of strength and ice balance make him a defenseman’s nightmare.

“All of the defensemen agree he’s one of the strongest guys in college hockey. He makes us all so much better,” said sophomore defenseman Doug Janik.

Salfi said Providence College defenseman Jay Leach told him Guite is one of the strongest players in Hockey East.

“He said you have to tackle him to bring him down,” said Salfi.

Sophomore right wing and linemate Niko Dimitrakos said, “every line you put him on has become successful. He’s such a hard worker. The young guys should look up to him as an example.”

But Guite credits his teammates for their roles in his 22-goal season to date.

“Most of those have been empty-netters. My teammates have made great plays,” said Guite, who has one-timed several cross-ice passes, many of them coming from Larose, into the short side from his favorite power-play spot at the base of the left circle.

Salfi said Guite has always been able to one-time a puck and Larose said there’s a good explanation for Guite’s proficiency in that area.

“He stays after practice a lot and has had me feed him pucks so he can practice his one-timers,” said Larose. “I pass him 30 to 40 pucks and he rifles them in. He is doing a great job for us.”

There is also another side to the happy-go-lucky Guite.

During a recent home game, a Merrimack College player was laying injured in the corner. The Merrimack trainer was trying to get to him as quickly as possible but was having trouble on the ice. Guite went over to him, offered him his arm and helped him get to his injured player a little quicker.

“We’re all in the same boat. Nobody wants to get hurt. We play as hard as we can but once the play stops, we let bygones be bygones,” said Guite. “Hockey is a classy sport.”

Salfi said once when Guite was playing for him, they stopped at a Burger King. But he couldn’t find Guite.

“He had noticed a woman trying to help another woman out of a car and into a wheelchair. He took it upon himself to go outside and help her,” said Salfi.

“He’s one of the best people on the team,” Janik said. “If you ever needed anything, Benny would be there for you. He’s easy to talk to and he loves life.”

Guite, who is also a good student, would love to put an exclamation point on his career with another NCAA crown.

Larose won’t be able to play against North Dakota due a butt-ending major and game disqualification he received in the 5-2 win over Michigan.