As the Steppenwolf song goes, the University of Maine hockey team was on a “Magic Carpet Ride.”

The Black Bears had been undefeated and had put together some remarkable streaks in a sport where the best team doesn’t always win. The media attention was greater than ever and included a story in Sports Illustrate last week on freshman phenom Paul Kariya.

Until Friday night’s 7-6 overtime loss to Boston University, Maine had gone 44 regular-season games without a loss (40-0-4) and hadn’t lost in 45 games at the Alfond Arena (41-0-4). Maine had gone unbeaten in its last 34 games against Hockey East opponents (including playoffs). Maine was 31-0-3.

Maine’s first regular-season loss since Jan. 24, 1992, (4-3 at Northeastern) could have been devastating. The Bears had squandered a 6-2 lead against a team that has become the Bears’ biggest rival.

There is no love lost when Maine and Boston University square off.

But Maine came back on Saturday night and atoned for the loss with a convincing 6-1 win over the Terriers. Maine retained its No. 1 ranking in both polls (WMEB, Albany Times Union). It received all the first place votes in the WMEB poll and 24 of the 25 first-place votes in the Albany poll. Michigan received the other first-place vote in the Albany poll.

Still, the loss raised a lot of questions.

Is it best to lose now so the albatross of being undefeated doesn’t put a ton of pressure on the team in the playoffs? Or does the loss peel away Maine’s invincibility in the eyes of upcoming opponents?

Maine Coach Shawn Walsh and his players are taking a positive approach to the loss.

“I like it on two fronts,” said Maine Coach Shawn Walsh. “The most important thing is now I can explain to the players that they are not invincible. If they’re sloppy, things can happen. It is possible to run out of time.

“The second thing is that, personally, it took a lot of pressure off me,” said Walsh. “Most of it was the media pressure. Every paper around was talking to me about it. It was getting tiring.”

“We were pretty disappointed about losing. But our goals at the beginning of the year were to win four tournaments, win the Hockey East regular season and tournament chamnpionships, and win the national championship,” said senior left winger Martin Mercier. “The unbeaten streak was just a bonus.”

Maine’s Saturday night win clinched the Hockey East regular season title for the second straight year and third in the last six years. Maine finished second to Boston College the other three years.

“We took the negative of losing and turned it into a positive,” said senior defenseman and alternate captain Dan Murphy. “We learned from the mistakes we made in that game. We had a 6-2 lead and we gave it up. When we get a lead like that, we’ve got to play better.”

“We realized that if we make mistakes, good teams are going to capitalize on those mistakes,” said Mercier. “So we’ve got to eliminate them.”

“We have to be intense for every game,” said junior defenseman Matt Martin. “Knowing that we can be beaten by anybody made us realize that we have to keep working on the little things and keep playing hard.”

Martin and Murphy admitted that losing did take a little bit of pressure off the team.

“The pressure was there, but it didn’t have anything to do with our loss,” said Murphy. “We didn’t play well. We’ve had pressure on us all season because we’re No. 1 and everybody wants to beat us. They play at their peak against us.”

Saturday’s impressive performance was important to the Bears.

“We sent a message,” said Murphy. “We showed that we’re able to learn from our mistakes.”

“We were mad. We showed how we really could play,” said Martin.

“Everybody loses at one time or another, but what’s important is how you come back from a loss,” said Mercier. “We watched the videotape and tried to correct the mistakes.”

“Saturday night’s game was a game in which we wanted to show that we were the best team in the East,” said Walsh.

The Bears have four regular-season games remaining before the Hockey East playoffs and the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re looking forward to the rest of the season. We just want to get better every game,” said Mercier. “We want to get to the best level we can so we’re ready for the big games.”

ON THE ICE…. Maine’s penalty-killers outscored Boston University’s power play 1-0 on the weekend. BU went 0-for-11 on the power play. “Their four penalty-killers outplayed our five power-play men all weekend,” said BU Coach Jack Parker. Over the last seven games, Maine has killed off 35 of its last 36 penalties.