ST. PAUL, Minn. – After spending 25 hours on the road (22 actually driving, and three catching a quick cat nap), Darryl and Beth Moore finally arrived in Golden Gopher country Wednesday night.

And Thursday morning, as game time approached, they finally found themselves among people who felt exactly the same way they do.

They finally found a pocket of University of Maine hockey fans.

Where the Moores are from, they often end up feeling like outsiders, and people don’t understand their passion for UMaine hockey. Where they’re from, the Black Bears are sometimes viewed as the enemy. Where they’re from, being a Bear-backer can be a true test.

The Moores are from Lebanon, Maine. Never heard of it? Let Darryl tell you what that means.

“I’m two drivers and a 9-iron from the New Hampshire border,” he said on Wednesday, settling for a golf reference as he enjoyed a pregame drink at a UMaine pep rally about a 4-iron away from the Xcel Energy Center.

And as Thursday’s Frozen Four showdown with rival New Hampshire approached, Moore made it perfectly clear that despite all the talk about “Two Maines,” he figures that true Mainers ought to understand that there’s really only one Pine Tree State. And everybody ought to dislike UNH.

“There’s a river that runs between the two states,” Moore said. “You’re either on one side or the other.”

Even out here, that should make perfect sense. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, after all, are separated by the Mississippi River. Minneapolis? That’s on the west side. It has the University of Minnesota. St. Paul’s on the east. It’s the state capital. It has Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Simple enough. Right?

Just as simple, the Moores say, is their love for the Black Bears. Sure, New Hampshire is nearby. Sure, Durham, home of the UNH Wildcats, is much more convenient than Orono. Sure, a trip to BU or Northeastern or Merrimack is much shorter than the three-hour drive they make to watch UMaine home games.

Every time the Moores turn on their radio, they get UNH games and cringe. When they turn on the TV, they see Wildcats everywhere they look.

And they don’t like it.

“I want UNH to lose worse than I want Maine to win, in any game,” Darryl says.

His wife goes a step further.

“The UNH fans are terrible,” she says. “Uneducated. ‘Oh, that’s just history,’ [they say]. We had our three kids at the FleetCenter and they threw popcorn and pretzels at us. No big deal. We can handle it.”

But the Moores don’t waver. Not even when they’re engaging in frequent debates with their Wildcat-loving friends.

They figure they’ve got an ace in the hole, you see.

According to Beth and Darryl, they’ve got the end-of-argument comeback for every sticky situation. They don’t get hysterical. They get historical.

“You just laugh,” Beth says.

Darryl clarifies: “You just laugh and talk about the history. It’s very easy to talk about the history of Maine hockey.”

According to Beth, that means one thing. Make that two things. Exhibit 1: 1993. Exhibit 2: 1999. Explanation: National championships.

(Dramatic pause)

The defense rests.

And even before Thursday’s 7-2 UMaine win … and before Saturday’s national championship game, the Moores had their debating bases covered.

Uhh … Beth. What if Maine loses? What if UNH wins a title.

“We’ll have two,” she said with a smile. “They’ll still only have one. So we’ll still be ahead.”

The Moores’ love of UMaine hockey is contagious, too.

Their daughters, 10-year-old Kayla, 5-year-old Gabrielle and 4-year-old Lauren, are also big Bear fans – and each has a favorite player.

“The 4-year-old loves Colin Shields,” Beth says. “When he was out sick, my 5-year-old said, ‘Well, it’s a good thing Niko’s there, Mum.’

“And Mike Morrison’s my 10-year-old’s favorite.”

There aren’t many things that keep the Moores from following their team. Earlier this year, they traveled to Orono for a game against Boston University one night, drove all the way back to Lebanon, then headed back to Orono again the next evening for the second game of a weekend series.

The girls didn’t make the trip to St. Paul and are staying with an uncle, due in large part to the expense: Three more Frozen Four tickets would have set the Moores back another $375.

But other than big-time expense, there’s not much that slows down the hockey-loving family. Not even illness.

“We went to Merrimack, and our oldest daughter got sick,” Beth says. “I sat in the car and listened to it on the radio while she was sick. [Darryl] went in with the other two kids and finished watching the game.

Kayla was battling the flu, and the scene wasn’t pretty, Beth admits. But both she and Darryl knew she’d be the one to head out to the parking lot.

“I’d let her puke in my pocket before I’d miss the hockey game,” Darryl says.