Maine Trust for Local News sports columnist Travis Lazarczyk is a voter in the USCHO.com men’s hockey poll. Each week he will share his top 20, as well as hit on a few items of interest in the sport.

This week is the final poll before the holiday break. With a lot of top teams on break already, there wasn’t much movement in the top half of my ballot.

1. Michigan
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan State
4. North Dakota
5. Quinnipiac
6. Denver
7. Penn State
8. Dartmouth
9. Western Michigan
10. Minnesota-Duluth
11. Boston College
12. UConn
13. Northeastern
14. Minnesota State
15. Harvard
16. Cornell
17. UNH
18. Maine
19. Providence
20. Boston University

Maine back in after a solid week. After going 3-0, including a gritty overtime win over UMass-Lowell in Portland Wednesday, I slid the Black Bears back on to my ballot at No. 18. Whether this week is a stepping stone to a more consistent effort in the second half of the season or simply another example of a team in an up-and-down season remains to be seen. Maine opens the second half with two tough games at Denver on Jan. 2-3, followed by nothing but Hockey East contests. Just five of Maine’s final 15 games are at Alfond Arena, and that only adds to the challenge. A few things to look for when the Black Bears resume play: Did goalie Albin Boija regain his All-American form with Saturday’s win over Lindenwood? Can Justin Poirier maintain his hot pace? The freshman wing tallied nine points this week (six goals and three assists), giving him a line of 17-9-26 to lead Hockey East in scoring. Did Maine get its power play straightened out? The Black Bears went 6 for 14 on the advantage this week, jumping from ninth in Hockey East to sixth with a 21.6% success rate.

Hockey East is as tight as ever. Don’t think because Hockey East doesn’t have a team in the top 10 that the league is having a particularly down season. It’s as tight as ever. Three points separate five teams in third through seventh place, with Maine and Northeastern tied for fourth. I have seven Hockey East teams ranked 11-20. This week I included New Hampshire at No. 17, one spot ahead of Maine. Included in the Wildcats’ 10-7 record are wins over Michigan State , UConn and Dartmouth, all ranked in the top 10 at the time of the game, as well as a pair of wins over Maine at Alfond. The Wildcats enter their break on a five-game win streak.