The University of Maine men’s hockey team knows its fate.
It will enter the Hockey East tournament as the eighth seed and will face the league regular-season champion, either Boston University or Northeastern, in a best-of-three quarterfinal series next weekend.
But the task at hand this weekend will be the regular-season final series at Tsongas Arena against the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead can do some experimenting in preparation for the playoffs, but he feels the top priority is snapping a six-game winless streak (0-5-1).
“Wins would help us more than anything, but at the same time, it’s important for us to make sure we’re playing our best hockey two weeks from now, so if that means juggling a few guys, so be it,” said Whitehead. “The key thing for us is to really focus on executing our systems.”
Whitehead will be relying on freshman goalie Scott Darling to snap the skid since junior Dave Wilson suffered a groin pull in practice and will be sidelined. Freshman Josh Seeley, who played at Bangor High and Kents Hill, will back him up.
“Hopefully, Dave will be ready next weekend,” said Whitehead.
Freshman right wing Gustav Nyquist and the other Bear players feel it is important to gain momentum for the playoffs by winning this weekend.
“Winning will enable us to feel good about ourselves. It will get our confidence up,” said Nyquist.
“That would be huge for our confidence. And Lowell came into our rink and took two points (3-2 on Jan. 30), so we’d like some retribution,” said senior right wing and co-captain Jeff Marshall.
Sophomore defenseman Mike Banwell said the Bears should treat this weekend like it’s a playoff series.
Maine has squandered third-period leads in two of their last four losses, which were all one-goal setbacks. Maine has lost five games this season in which they had a lead in the third period.
“We’ve got to get more consistent and play to win in the third period instead of playing not to lose,” said Marshall. “It should never happen. It’s not acceptable. We’ve got to find a way to put teams away. That’s the bottom line.”
“If you let wins slip away in the playoffs, you go home,” said freshman defenseman Will O’Neill.
The Maine players said it doesn’t matter who they face in the playoffs.
“Either way, it’s going to be at tough challenge,” said freshman center Tanner House. “We’ll have out work cut out for us.”
“We match up a little better against Northeastern. They play more of a [physical] style which is similar to the way we need to play,” said Marshall. “But it doesn’t make a difference to us who we play.”
One of the problems with playing UMass Lowell this weekend is its style is “very different” from Northeastern and Boston University, according to Whitehead.
“But that’s fine. The key is to play well, regardless of the results, and move forward into the playoffs with momentum,” said Whitehead.
UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald said the Black Bears are a “dangerous opponent” because they have clinched a spot and can’t advance any higher.
“They can play fast and free,” said MacDonald. “They’re a very competitive team. They play with a lot of intensity and they play hard. They can get after it. We have to match their intensity if not exceed it.”