Men’s Hockey
MAINE vs. MASSACHUSETTS
Time, site: Friday, Saturday, 7 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts
Records: Maine 6-13-1, UMass 5-14
Series, last meeting: Maine leads 48-19-9, Maine 3-2 on 11/1/14
Key players: Maine — RW Blaine Byron (9 goals, 7 assists), C Devin Shore (5 & 9), C Cam Brown (5 & 9), D Ben Hutton (4 & 7), C Steven Swavely (3 & 7) LW Nolan Vesey (4 & 5), G Sean Romeo (4-9, 2.97 goals-against average, .907 save percentage); UMass— RW Frank Vatrano (12 & 7), C Dennis Kravchenko (6 & 10), C Steven Iacobellis (4 & 10), LW Ray Pigozzi (4 & 9), D Oleg Yevenko (0 & 4), G Henry Dill (5-7, 4.01, .868), G Steve Mastalerz (0-7, 4.85, .857)
Game notes: The Minutemen have lost six of their last seven and have allowed 4.42 goals per game this season, which ranks last among the 59 teams in Division I. But the Minutemen are 29th in goals per game (2.74) and have some dangerous forwards in Vatrano and Kravchenko. Vatrano has a four-game goal scoring streak (5 goals) and was the Hockey East Player of the Month for December (6 & 3 in 5 games). Freshman Kravchenko had 3 & 1 in two Hockey East losses at Maine on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. These are nonconference games. The 6-foot-7 Yevenko is second in HE blocked shots (38). Maine has won three of its last four and must continue to play solid team defense in front of improving freshman Romeo. Vesey has registered points in five of his last six games (4 & 2) and Byron has points in four of his last five (4 & 2). Shore has 3 & 7 in 9 games vs. UMass, Hutton has 3 & 5 in 9 and Byron has 2 & 5 in 6. UMass is 1-8 at home while Maine is 1-18-3 on the road since the start of the 2013-14 season. Maine is 6-0-1 when it outshoots its opponents and 0-13 when it gets outshot.