The road doesn’t get any easier for the Maine Black Bears this weekend.
One week after splitting a two-game home series with Massachusetts, the University of Maine hockey teams goes back on the road this weekend to perennial nemesis, Boston University.
No. 3 Maine has just one loss since dropping back-to-back games at the Florida Everblades Classic in December, and just five overall on the season, three in Hockey East play.
Boston University, meanwhile, has fallen into eighth place in Hockey East for the first time in recent memory, and is just 3-7-2 in league play.
But, this is Boston University against Maine, and it is at Walter Brown Arena.
Just one of Maine’s five losses this season has come at home, with four coming on the road, and the Terriers have a tendency to play up in front of their fickle but rowdy home crowd.
Leading the way for Maine is a tandem of goaltenders. Frank Doyle is currently the top-ranked goaltender in the country with a 1.53 goals-against average, and Jimmy Howard is third with a 1.61.
On the other side of the ice is Sean Fields. This season, Fields has been sub-par, with a 4-7-4 record, a 3.12 GAA and a .886 save percentage. He has in the past, however, proven a stalwart in big games at home. His backup, Steven Siwiec, is 2-1-2 this season, with a 2.46 GAA and a .914 percentage.
Matching offensive numbers, Maine has a distinct advantage. Three of BU’s top seven point-scorers are defensemen, including leading point man Ryan Whitney with 15.
On Maine’s side, you have to go to seventh place on the list before finding a defenseman. The Black Bears are led by Colin Shields and Michel Leveille, who have 21 points, followed by Todd Jackson and Derek Damon with 16, and Greg Moore with 15.
NOTES: Four Maine Black Bears made it on the Central Scouting mid-term rankings list released last week. Mike Lundin (56th), Keith Johnson (138th), Luciano Aquino (187th) and Tom Zabkowicz (226th) appeared on the list that is largely used by teams in the NHL to determine draft orders for upcoming drafts.
Last season, Greg Moore and Jimmy Howard were both drafted after being ranked high on the Central Scouting lists.
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