ORONO, Maine — Rob McGovern has a little extra incentive this weekend when the University of Maine’s freshman goalie and his mates conclude the Hockey East regular season against one of the hottest teams in college hockey, Northeastern University, on Friday and Saturday in Boston.

McGovern will face three former Thayer Academy teammates wearing Northeastern colors in left wing Lincoln Griffin and center Adam Gaudette along with defenseman Jon Barry, although Barry has appeared in only two games this season.

McGovern is one of four Massachusetts natives who will have somewhat of a homecoming.

Freshman defenseman Stephen Cochrane also is from Massachusetts, but he hasn’t played in a game yet.

UMaine is 8-20-6 overall and 5-13-2 in Hockey East, and Northeastern is 14-13-5 and 8-8-4, respectively.

“I’ve got a lot of good buddies on their team. I’m pretty excited to play against them. It’s going to be fun,” said McGovern, who made 21 saves Saturday to beat Merrimack 3-2 in overtime. “I went to a lot of Northeastern’s games last year because one of their coaches was the uncle of one of my former teammates.

“It’s a great rink with a great atmosphere,” added McGovern, who is from Weymouth.

“It’s always nice to go home,” said junior center Cam Brown of Natick. “It’s an away game that is almost like a home game because you’ll have your family and friends at the game.

“I haven’t played at Matthews Arena too often, but the Bruins used to play there, so the rink has a cool history and tradition,” said Brown.

Left wing Nolan Vesey of North Reading and defenseman Mark Hamilton from Winthrop have never played at Matthews Arena, which opened on April 16, 1910.

“I’ve heard it’s a great experience to play there. They have a pretty good student section,” said Hamilton.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Vesey. “It’s going to be cool. I’ll have a lot of family there.”

The Black Bears will have their hands full against an NU team that is 13-2-3 in its last 18 games.

UMaine is still jockeying for playoff position while the Huskies are locked into the sixth seed. They will host the team that finishes 11th in the 12-team league the following weekend in a best-of-three first round series.

The top four teams will receive first-round byes.

UMaine occupies the 11th spot, but the Black Bears are tied with Connecticut with 12 points each, and they are one point behind ninth-place Merrimack, two behind eighth-place New Hampshire and three adrift of seventh-place Vermont.

UMaine would lose tiebreakers to UConn and New Hampshire but would win tiebreakers with Vermont and Merrimack.

“Northeastern has been pretty hot. They’re offensively skilled and talented, but we’re definitely up for the challenge,” said Brown.

Hamilton said he hasn’t been paying attention to the standings.

“We just need to focus on getting two wins and let the rest take care of itself,” he said.