They know they’re not supposed to think about the postseason, or even talk about it, before the regular season ends, never mind before the season even begins.

But you’ll have to forgive this year’s Maine Black Bears for being a bit antsy. They watched last year’s departing seniors graduate without ever skating in an NCAA tournament game.

“Obviously, our next game is the most important game,” assistant captain Mike Cornell said. “But at the same time, we’d have to be kidding ourselves to say that wasn’t our No. 1 goal. To see the seniors go out last year, not having made it, it’s definitely in the back of our minds that it’s something we want to experience.”

Cornell, a junior defenseman, echoed the sentiments of many of his teammates who zipped across the ice at Alfond Arena on Thursday during the Black Bears’ annual meet-and-greet with the media, sometimes playfully floating pucks into camera shots or forcing laughter from a teammate during an interview. Thursday was fun and games. When the team hits the ice Sunday for its first and only exhibition game of the preseason, it’s back to business — back to beginning a push toward the NCAA tournament.

“Everyone’s ready to go. We can’t wait to get started,” assistant captain and leading returning scoring forward Spencer Abbott said. “Everyone knows it’s been that four years, and everyone’s itching to get to the tournament.”

To get there, Maine is going to have to overcome big losses at both forward and defense. Graduation and professional contracts stripped the Black Bears of six high-impact skaters, three at each position.

The losses are particularly poignant up front. Maine lost former Hobey Baker Award finalist Gustav Nyquist, as well as established forwards Tanner House and Robby Dee — 41 goals and 80 assists.

“You don’t replace a kid like Gustav Nyquist right away,” Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said, “so it’s going to have to be a team effort. We also lost some good forwards in Tanner House and Robby Dee as well. That’s a big blow to the offense, but guys are chomping at the bit to expand their roles.”

Guys like Lewiston native Mark Anthoine, who played more than any other Black Bear rookie last year, seeing time in 33 games.

“He’s a perfect example of what we’re looking for, and you’re going to see that when guys like him get bigger roles, more time in the key spots in the game,” Whitehead said.

On the back end, Jeff Dimmen, Josh Van Dyke and Mike Banwell are all gone. But, Cornell noted, there was plenty of talent in the bank behind them, with six returning defensive letter winners ready to step in.

“We have a lot of guys who played a lot of games last year,” Cornell said. “You can’t downplay too much the losses of guys like Dimmen or Van Dyke or Banwell, but at the same time, we’re confident in our abilities.”

The one position about which Whitehead isn’t even mildly concerned is at goalie. With the position in flux essentially since Ben Bishop signed a pro contract in 2008, a pair of sophomores — Dan Sullivan and Martin Ouellette — grabbed their chances to shine as freshmen, auditioning successfully to be this year’s tandem. They only improved over the summer, Whitehead said.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that was our weakness last year,” Whitehead said. “I think those two guys are going to surprise a lot of people. They’re in tremendous physical condition, and they’re a lot more prepared. They were in a tough spot last year, and the year before we had goaltending issues as well … It’s been several years since we’ve had stability at that position. That’s obviously the No. 1 building block for elite teams.”

With a strong backbone between the pipes, depth on defense and an emerging offense, the Black Bears are optimistic about their chances this season — one game at a time, of course.