Two of the other three teams besides the University of Maine that are involved in the Hockey East semifinals on Thursday are on noteworthy unbeaten streaks. And the other has already played two games at the TD Garden in Boston this season.
The University of Connecticut, 21-10-4 and in search of its first Hockey East Tournament title, will bring an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) into Thursday’s 4 p.m. semi against a 21-12-2 Boston University team that is unbeaten in five (4-0-1).
UConn is the fourth seed and BU is third.
Number two seed UMaine (22-7-6) will face ninth seed Northeastern University (14-19-3) at 7:30.
Friday’s championship game is at 7:30.
Northeastern lost both of its Beanpot Tournament games at the Garden, 8-2 to Boston College and 4-3 to Harvard.
But the Huskies, who had won just three of their final 12 regular season games, beat Merrimack 3-2 in double overtime in their first round game and stunned top seed Boston College 3-1 on Saturday.
UMaine hasn’t won the Hockey East tournament since 2004 while NU won it in 2019 and 2016.
BU won it in 2023 and lost to Boston College 6-2 in last year’s final.
UConn played in the championship game for the only time in 2022, losing to UMass 2-1 in overtime.
UMaine is third in the Pairwise Rankings that emulate the NCAA Tournament selection process, Boston University is sixth, UConn is seventh and Northeastern is 22nd.
So UMaine, BU and UConn have already sewn up NCAA Tournament berths along with Boston College (1st) and Providence (8th).
UMass (11th) also looks like it could earn a berth.
If six get in, it will be just the second time Hockey East has put that many teams in the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
Northeastern has to win the Hockey East tourney to earn the automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament, which could give the league a seventh team for the first time since the league began in 1984-85.
Northeastern features a high-powered top line comprised of its top three scorers. Biddeford’s Jack Williams (16 goals, 25 assists) centers the line between left wing Cam Lund (17 & 21) and right wing Dylan Hryckowian (16 & 19). Lund is an All-Hockey East third team choice.
Vinny Borgesi is fourth in scoring (5 & 16) and the Huskies’ highest-scoring defenseman in front of goalie Cameron Whitehead (6-12-3 record, 2.62 goals-against average and .913 save percentage). He made 30 saves against BC and earned Hockey East Goaltender of the Week honors.
BU enters its game with UConn as the nation’s fourth highest scoring team thanks to the fourth-best power play.
BU has averaged 3.77 goals per game and its power play is clicking at a 27.6 percent success rate. The Terriers are also the most penalized team among the nation’s 64 Division I programs, racking up 13.57 penalty minutes per game.
The Hutson brothers, right wing Quinn (20 & 26) and defenseman Cole (12 & 27), are the Terriers’ leading scorers. Quinn Hutson is a second team All-HE pick and Cole is a first teamer and a finalist for Rookie of the Year. He is on the All-Rookie team.
Ryan Greene (13 & 20), who centers a line between Quinn Hutson and Jack Harvey (9 & 15) is a third team pick. Defenseman Tom Willander (2 & 20) is a second team choice and left wing Cole Eiserman (21 & 10) is on the All-Rookie team.
Midseason addition Mikhail Yegorov (8-4-1, 1.82, .937) has solidified the goaltending.
BU has outscored teams 22-8 in its five-game unbeaten streak.
UConn also has its three leading point-getters on one line in right wing Joey Muldowney (24 & 18), center Hudson Schandor (10 & 30) and left wing Jake Richard (15 & 23). Muldowney and Schandor were All-Hockey East second line selections and Richard was a third team choice.
Schandor was chosen the league’s best defensive forward and the winner of its sportsmanship award.
Center Ryan Tattle has 17 & 13 and goalie Callum Tung (8-3-1, 2.06, .934) was chosen to the All-Rookie team. He has split the goaltending with Tyler Muszelik (12-5-3, 2.20, .917).
UConn has scored 34 goals in its eight-game unbeaten streak and given up 15.