ORONO -- If the University of Maine hockey team has a bit of a swagger this week, the Black Bears are entitled to it.

After all, a little more poise is one of the merits of defeating the No. 2 team in the country.

Brian Flynn's goal with 1 minute, 34 seconds remaining gave Maine a 2-1 win against Boston College, the defending national champions, Sunday at Alfond Arena.

"It's always a big confidence-booster, to defeat the defending national champs," said Flynn, who swatted a rebound past Boston College goalie John Muse for the game-winner. "Hopefully we get rolling."

The win may also raise the eyebrows of a few teams around Hockey East and around the country; less than a month and a half ago, Maine was ninth of 10 teams in Hockey East's preseason polls and lost three of its first four games of the season.

"I'm not too concerned with the respect issue, but what's most important is how we feel about ourselves right now and we've got to focus on ourselves," Maine coach Tim Whitehead. "The other issue, our confidence, obviously, that is important with a young team, and a lot of guys haven't been in certain situations and are learning new roles. This should help us."

Maine goalie Scott Darling made 24 saves as the Black Bears (4-3-0, 1-2-0 Hockey East) handed the Eagles (5-3-0, 3-2-0) their second loss in three days. Notre Dame defeated Boston College 4-1 Friday in Chestnut Hill, Mass., in a rematch of last season's national championship game.

"This isn't going to change the season for us, but it was nice for us to get this win," Darling said. "When you think of the elite teams, you think of Boston College.

"But we were not afraid of this kind of game."

Maine contained Boston College offensively and outshot the Eagles 15-5 in a scoreless first period.

"They clearly out-battled us and out-competed us," Boston College coach Jerry York said. "The stats don't lie, in this case, and that kind of set the tone for the game. They played the game on their toes and we were back on our heels for most of the game."

Maine took only two shots on Muse (22 saves) in the second but with Boston College right wing Benn Ferriero penalized for holding at 6:53 of the second, Chris Hahn picked up Josh Van Dyk's shot from the left circle and flicked the puck past Muse at 7:32 to give Maine a 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute into the third and eight seconds after a high-sticking penalty (assessed with 1:15 left in the second) to Gustav Nyquist expired, Ferriero tied the game when he put in Brian Gibbons' rebound, and Maine killed off a tripping penalty to Nyquist with five minutes left in the game, before Flynn scored the game-winner.

"We didn't play a full 60 (minutes)," Boston College forward Brock Bradford said. "So it's tough to deserve to win those games. We didn't bring enough intensity for those full 60 minutes."

Maine (4-3-0, 1-2-0 Hockey East) at Providence (2-5-1, 0-4-1)

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Schneider Arena, Providence, R.I.

TV/RADIO: None/WLOB (AM 1310)