ORONO – Now the fun begins.

As the University of Maine hockey team begins its march toward the National Championship that eluded them last spring, the Black Bears are in the building stages. It’s a part that pleasantly surprises coach Tim Whitehead every year.

“The fun part is to see who emerges into new roles just as players did last year,” said Whitehead. “That’s one of the things I’m excited about each year the most – the potential to see guys emerging and taking on new roles. There’s so much potential in each individual than you might think. If you believe in them, they might surprise you.”

The Black Bears had ample holes to fill last year, but managed to regroup and work their way to the National Championship game, losing to Denver, 1-0.

As they begin the regular season today in Vermont, the mission is to create a new team that can achieve similar results.

“Every year is unique,” said Whitehead. “The team building process is unique each season. Even though we were a very tight team last year, and we played as one, because we played that way last year, and we have a decent number of guys back this year, it doesn’t mean we’re going to be the same. We’ve got to work. We’ve got to work at building a team. Each year, we try to impress on these guys to take nothing for granted.”

Some of the players that emerged last year and did significant things for the Black Bears are the ones Maine replaces this year. Prestin Ryan became one of the top defenders in Hockey East. Colin Shields was an All-American forward while Todd Jackson and Dustin Penner were both regular contributors up front. Frank Doyle, teamed with Jimmy Howard, made for a dynamic goaltending tandem.

“You can’t replace those guys, but every year you find guys that can fill that role,” said senior forward Derek Damon. ” We’re fortunate to have two guys that are good leaders (John Ronan and Jeff Mushaluk) and ready to take that role on this team. We also have a lot of seniors that have been through the ropes of the last four years and seen the National Championship and been through the tough times that we’ve had. So they know how to handle adversity.”

Though there will be plenty of new faces in the lineup to start the year, many of the pieces of the puzzle return. Howard, who set NCAA records with a 1.19 goals against average and .956 save percentage, will see a larger load without Doyle this year.

“Obviously having Jimmy in net is a big thing for us,” said junior forward Greg Moore. “He’s obviously proved himself as one of the best goalies in the NCAA.”

Though Maine lost Ryan on the blue line, the rest of the defense, which allowed just 1.57 goals against, returns. Mike Lundin, Troy Barnes and Mushaluk are the three most experienced. Tom Zabkowicz, Steve Mullin, Matt Deschamps and Travis Wight will all have opportunity increase their roles.

“We’ve obviously got the guys that can step up and make things work on the team,” said Whitehead.

Up front, the Black Bears have two members back from each of the four lines used down the stretch. Michel Leveille was the Hockey East Rookie of the Year with six goals and 34 assists. He’s joined by Damon (13-18), Jon Jankus (9-16), Ronan (6-8) and Moore (15-8). Players like Ben Murphy (three goals), Mike Hamilton (seven goals) and Keith Johnson (five goals) are expected to boost their numbers.

“We’ve got a couple of guys coming back like Michel Leveille,” said Moore. “He should have an unbelievable year, and I think Jankus is going to have an amazing year. John Ronan and Ben Murphy, there’s a lot of guys coming back that we can really look upon to keep things going.”

Some of the new players to watch include freshman Keenan Hopson, a 100-point scorer with his British Columbia Junior Hockey League team, fellow forward Rob Bellamy, defenders Tim Maxwell and Bret Tyler and goaltender Matt Lundin.

“I think we’re going into the season with high hopes,” said Moore. “I think we have a really good freshman class. We have a lot more size and strength in the freshman class. The experiences of last year and going so far, the guys that are returning already know what it’s like.”

The Black Bears were ranked second, behind Boston College, in the Hockey East preseason poll. After last year’s exciting 10 straight wins down the stretch and the disappointment of the near-miss against Denver, the Black Bears are definitely hungry and looking to pick up where they left off.

“Expectations this year are definitely high in the dressing room and probably out in the community the expectations for us are high also, especially after the year we had last year” said Howard, the senior netminder. “There’s no reason this year that this team can’t make it back there.”