ORONO – Rusty, weak and unfocused.

Hockey teams coming off of a nearly two-week break may have those adjectives tossed around when asked about their next games. For Maine coach Tim Whitehead, there is no ducking those words.

“Sure, we’ll probably be a bit off,” said Whitehead. “We may take a bit to get our legs back beneath us on the ice, but I think the two weeks off was great for our mental stability. Mentally, the kids are ready to go now, and that is important.”

The University of Maine team returns to the ice this Friday and Saturday when it travels to North Andover, Mass. to tangle with Merrimack in a pivotal Hockey East series.

“We’ve seen them once already this season,” said Whitehead, “and what we saw was a quick team that has speed in the front, and size in the back. Their goalie has been kind of hidden behind Joe Exter for two years, but he’s coming into his own this year, too.”

For the Black Bears, a surprising run to the top of the polls early in the season will start becoming a bit more bumpy as the meat of the schedule starts to head their way.

With so many quality teams in Hockey East, it’s hard to take any of the league games lightly.

“Every year Merrimack knocks off someone in the top 10 at their own rink,” said Whitehead. “We want to go in there and play hard and make sure we can avoid that this year.”

Maine has been getting a boost from its underclassmen this year, and recently forward Luciano Aquino was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month for November. The freshman has been an integral part of the offense for the Black Bears, spending time on the power play and on the second and first lines.

Aquino’s brother spent four years at Merrimack, graduating last year, so the game for him may hold even more meaning.

Meanwhile, Mike Lundin and Brett Johnson have also starred as rookies for Maine this season.

Merrimack is currently 1-5-3 in Hockey East play and 4-9-3 overall. Last weekend, the Warriors suffered the first defeat of any Hockey East school by an Atlantic Hockey school, dropping a 3-2 decision to Quinnipiac of Connecticut.

“If we’re going to win against them at their rink, we’re going to have to play well on special teams like we did against them at home,” said Whitehead. “We had two power play goals and a short-handed goal, and we stopped them on six power play attempts. To beat them, that’s what we have to do every night.”

Faceoff for both games is at 7 p.m. at Volpe Ice Arena in North Andover, Mass.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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