One of the best things about Hockey East is the league’s depth.
It is the deepest among the six Division I hockey leagues.
That’s what the University of Maine’s 3-1 and 3-2 home victories over Northeastern and UMass on Friday night and Sunday afternoon embodied.
Both were physical affairs, especially the UMass game, which was one of the most physical contests seen at the Alfond Arena in quite some time.
There were fierce battles for every loose puck, and no shortage of bone-rattling checks.
It was like a National Hockey League game from decades ago when you had only six teams.
After you got rid of the puck, you had to brace yourself for a body check.
And the crew of officials did a good job letting them play and only calling the obvious penalties.
The UMass victory marked the Black Bears’ first game since the Christmas break in which they scored three goals without one of them being an empty-netter.
Yet the Black Bears have gone 5-3-1 during that stretch with eight of the nine games being against teams ranked in the top 20 in the country.
Hockey East has eight teams among the top 16 in the current Pairwise Rankings, which emulate the NCAA Hockey Tournament selection committee’s blueprint for choosing the 16 tournament teams. No other conference has more than four. The six league tournament champions earn an automatic berth and then the committee picks 10 at-large teams based on a variety of criteria.
The eight Hockey East teams in the top 16 of the Pairwise Rankings are Boston College (1), Maine (4), UConn and Providence (tied 6th), Boston University (tied 8th), UMass Lowell (10), New Hampshire (15) and UConn (16).
With half of the top 16 teams in the Pairwise Rankings from Hockey East, that means every regular season game in the conference contains a playoff-type atmosphere and intensity right now.
That intensity was on display throughout the weekend action. The Black Bears found a way to beat Northeastern while missing four forwards and then were without three against UMass.
UMass was without its second leading scorer, Aydar Suniev.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr had to move sophomore defenseman Liam Lesakowski up to a wing each night and he played well during his limited minutes, using his 6-foot-4 ½, 225-pound body and his long reach to forecheck effectively with linemates Thomas Pichette, Aidan Carney and Ross Mitton.
Lesakowski played right wing with Carney on the left side of freshman center Pichette on Friday and moved to left wing on Sunday, with Ross Mitton playing right wing after returning to the lineup following a one-game suspension imposed by the league for a contact-to-the head hit.
Despite its scoring issues of late, highlighted by a miserable power play slump, the Black Bears were able to win with its work ethic, defense, goaltending and a strong net-front presence which produced four of the six goals on the weekend.
“Our play at the net front is getting a lot better,” said Maine senior center and alternate captain Nolan Renwick.
UMass coach Greg Carvel said he has watched UMaine score net-front goals all season long and wished his team would be more assertive in front of the opponents’ net.
UMaine has allowed the third-fewest number of goals among the 64 Division I teams (1.76).
Sophomore goalie Albin Boija made a remarkable glove save with 28.6 seconds left in the UMass game, which Carvel called the best he has ever seen in a college hockey game.
“It felt good to make a game-changing save,” said Boija, who robbed Dans Locmelis with the highlight-reel stop.
The Black Bears scored five of their six goals over the weekend in either the first two minutes or last two minutes of a period.
That gives them 31 such goals on the season, which represents 37 percent of their 84 goals.
They have scored 19 in the final two minutes of a period, including four empty-net goals and 12 in the first two minutes.
Goals early or late in a period can be game-changers and provide a huge momentum swing.
Graduate student center and co-captain Lynden Breen has started skating after breaking his fibula against RPI on Nov. 30. He is seeking a late-season return to the lineup, but there is a ways to go before that occurs, if it does. He would certainly give the team a sizable lift.
Third-leading scorer Charlie Russell remains sidelined with a hand/arm injury and reliable fourth line winger Anthony Calafiore is out indefinitely with a leg/ankle injury.
Senior left wing and UMass transfer Taylor Makar scored three goals over the weekend including both game-winners. He now has a three-game goal-scoring streak (4 goals) and has career-highs in points with 20 points and assists with 10, along with 10 goals, which ties his single-season high.
“He has been awesome,” said Barr, who thought it was “cool” that Makar scored the game-winner against his former team.
It doesn’t get any easier this weekend as the Black Bears will visit Providence College for a pair on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (6 p.m.).
UMaine, ranked fifth in both major polls, is 17-5-3 overall and 8-3-3 in Hockey East while seventh-ranked Providence is 16-6-4 and 6-5-4. The poll rankings are slightly different than the Pairwise Rankings.
The one glaring weakness in UMaine’s game right now is its power play, which is just 3-for-29 since the Christmas break and 1-for-22 over its last seven games.
That has to be rectified as soon as possible.
Goals are hard to come by and a power play goal or two could spell the difference between winning and losing.
The offensive zone entries and puck movement on the perimeter have been decent but the Black Bears have been getting a lot of shots blocked.
UMaine had just five shots on goal on its five power play chances vs. UMass although three were abbreviated due to UMaine penalties.