After breezing through its first month of play, the No. 1-ranked University of Maine men’s ice hockey team will face one of its toughest road trips of the season this weekend, traveling first to No. 5 Boston College and then to No. 3 New Hampshire on back-to-back nights.

The first game of the weekend come against a B.C, team picked by many as one of the top teams in the country to start the season and picked by Hockey East coaches as the top team in the league.

The Eagles’ offense is the crux of their team, and features several top forwards against which Maine’s defense will have to be quick if they hope to contain them.

Patrick and Ben Eaves and Tony Voce are among those forwards with incredible scoring ability. Voce leads the team with five goals and two assists, while Ben Eaves has two goals and five assists. Younger brother Patrick has chimed in with a goal and four assists, tying him with Ryan Shannon at five points.

On defense, Boston College isn’t that much of a scoring threat, with Greg Lauze leading the blue line corps with a goal and two assists. Lauze, Andrew Alberts, Peter Harrold, Brett Peterson and J.D. Forrest all make up a solid defensive corps, however, and will challenge Maine’s speedy forwards.

The one crutch for the Eagles may be between the pipes. Matti Kaltiainen has started all seven games for the Eagles, and his record is the same as the team’s at 4-2-1. His save percentage, however, is low at .887, and he has given up 2.32 goals per game. Inconsistency has been his biggest downfall, but he has shown flashes of brilliance, especially in the Eagles’ win over North Dakota.

One thing working in the Black Bear’s favor on Friday night is the fact that BC already played a game this week, a 4-1 win over U-Mass/Lowell on Wednesday night.

On Saturday, the Black Bears visit New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center in Durham. New Hampshire boasts a 4-1 record through five games this season, and has one of the best starting goaltenders in the country in Michael Ayers.

Up front, Steve Saviano continues to make his case for the Hobey Baker Award, putting up 10 points in five games, for a 2.00 points-per-game average. Saviano, freshman Jake Micflikier and junior Preston Callander lead the team offensively, while Brian Yandle, Tim Horst and Mike Lubesnick lead a young but effective defense.

Maine isn’t exactly slouching on offense, either.

Todd Jackson leads the team with 10 points, including four shorthanded goals to lead the country in that category. Linemate Greg Moore is second on the team with nine points, followed by Colin Shields and Michel Léveillé with eight each. Bangor’s Derek Damon leads a group at seven points.

On defense, Maine has been stingy so far, allowing just 1.29 goals per game, third best in the nation, and on offense the Black Bears have scored five per game, also good for third in the country.

In net, the two Maine netminder, Frank Doyle and Jimmy Howard, were named the Hockey East goaltenders of the month for October, and both figure to see time between the pipes this weekend.

Break from the A-10

Maine football makes it final trip outside the Atlantic-10 this week when the Black Bears square off against the Morgan State Bears in Baltimore on Saturday.

Maine is coming off of a heartbreaking 23-20 overtime loss to No. 2 Delaware last week. The Black Bears led that game 21-0, but let the lead whither away as time went on.

Morgan State is the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe the Black Bears will face other than Howard University. maine is 6-0 all time against Howard.

Morgan State comes into Saturday’s tilt with a 5-4 record overall, with a 3-3 mark in their conference, and boasts an offense that has averages 338.7 yards per game.

Maine’s defense, despite the loss last week, ranks first in the conference, allowing just 277.6 yards per game, and tenth overall in Division 1-AA.

On offense, Marcus Williams continues his assault on the Maine record books, needing just 18 yards to move into fifth all time in career rushing yards. If Williams can muster 500 yards over the next three games, he will become just the third back in maine history to reach 3,000 yards.

Through the air, Ron Whitcomb is already the most prolific freshman quarterback in Maine history, tossing 14 touchdowns in his rookie campaign to go with 1,579 yards on 131-of-225 passing, a completion percentage of 58.2.

In the following weeks, Maine will host Villanova on Nov. 15 before closing out the season at New Hampshire on Nov. 22.