A little break from the grind of a long season is always welcome.

A two-week break in action after only four games? Not so much.

While their two-week respite has allowed the Maine Black Bears to address any early injury issues and perhaps integrate a few more sophisticated systems into their repertoire, it’s also made them hungry to play some hockey.

“It’s been a long two weeks,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “I think the guys are a little tired of hitting each other and they’re ready to hit someone in a different-colored jersey for a change.”

Maine returns to the ice this weekend after a rare week off in the early season to face Hockey East rival Providence College in a two-game home set. And these are not the Providence Friars of recent years.

“It’s a tough time to face them,” Whitehead said. “They’re on an up-swing. With a new coach, that always gives a team good energy. Now it’s our responsibility to take care of business at home.”

Providence as been at or near the bottom of the league for several years, but this season has started impressively, with a pair of conference wins and a 2-1-1 overall record under new head coach Nate Leaman. the past 10 meetings, Maine is 7-1-2 against the Friars, but as with any conference game in tough-as-nails Hockey East, anything goes.

Andy Balysky, Damian Cross, Stefan Demopoulos and Ross Mauerman lead the offensive attack for Providence with four points each, while Myles Harvey has three goals to lead the Friars in that category.

“We’ve watched them on tape, and it appears they have a well-balanced attack with no straight power line,” Whitehead said. “We’ve been very pleased that we’ve found a so-called power line, but now we want to find some secondary scoring to go along with that.”

The Black Bears last played in North Dakota two weeks ago, losing the first game before earning a tie in the second against the No. 12-ranked Fighting Sioux.

“The guys played well, they played hard,” Whitehead said. “I felt we carried the play for the most part, we outshot them, so there were a lot of positives in it that way.”

Brian Flynn and Spencer Abbott lead the way for the Black Bears this season with seven points each through four games. Both have had success against Providence in their careers, as well. Flynn has collected four goals and seven assists in nine previous meetings, while Abbott has nine points in nine contests. Flynn is also riding an impressive streak with 116 consecutive games played, having missed only the team’s second game of his freshman year.

In the cage, Maine has used a straight rotation with sophomores Martin Ouellette and Dan Sullivan. Ouellette has backstopped the team’s two losses, while Sullivan is 1-0-1 in his two outings, though Ouellette has the better peripheral numbers with a 2.53 GAA and an. 896 save percentage. Sullivan is at 2.89 and .886.

“We’re pleased with both of their efforts so far this season,” Whitehead said. “They’ve prepared well, and they’re still both only sophomores, so we want to make sure they keep developing. The way to do that is to give each of them as much ice time as possible.”

Maine and Providence play back to back contests, with the first on Friday at 7 p.m. and the second at the same time on Saturday, both at Alfond Arena in Orono.