The University of Maine men’s hockey team hopes to build off Tuesday’s strong performance in a 3-3 overtime tie with the nation’s top-ranked Quinnipiac University this weekend when they play a home-and-home series with Hockey East rival Boston University.
The teams will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Alfond Arena before busing to Agganis Arena in Boston for Saturday’s 7 p.m. rematch.
The Black Bears are having a disappointing season, sporting an overall record of 5-13-6 and a Hockey East mark of 2-6-2, but they have ties with the nation’s top two teams in the latest US College Hockey Online and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
UMaine tied No. 2 North Dakota 1-1 in the Ice Breaker Tournament on Oct. 10, 2015, at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. The Black Bears also have a 4-0 loss to Quinnipiac in Hamden, Connecticut.
BU, 11-7-4 and 5-4-3, respectively, is ranked 11th in the country in both polls.
“We seem to elevate our game when we’re playing really good teams,” said Maine junior defenseman Eric Schurhamer. “We have to make sure we play at a high tempo every single game.”
UMaine had a 3-1 lead against Quinnipiac but allowed two goals in the final 6:01, including the tying goal on a six-on-four disadvantage with 46.6 seconds left.
UMaine went on a power play with 3:18 left, but veterans Cedric Lacroix and Blaine Byron took hooking penalties. The Bobcats made them pay by scoring on the power play with the goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker.
“We played really well. We were happy with it. But it was a little disappointing how things ended. We didn’t really finish the game,” said Schurhamer. “We knew we let it slip away.”
Still, UMaine, which was without three injured players in defensemen Rob Michel and Keith Muehlbauer and leading goal scorer Will Merchant, gained confidence.
“We outplayed Quinnipiac,” said junior defenseman Dan Renouf. “If we can outplay a team like that, we can play with anybody in this league.”
“It was an all-around team game,” said Schurhamer. “Everyone really stepped up to the plate. Everyone did their job and then some. We really came together.
“BU is going to be a lot like Quinnipiac. We’re in for a test but we’re looking forward to it,” he added.
Renouf said the team did a good job shutting down the deep and high-powered Bobcats and they have to follow the same blueprint against the Terriers, the nation’s 12th-highest scoring team (3.41 goals per game).
“We did a good job keeping up with Quinnipiac and making it miserable for them. We’ll have to follow the same game plan against BU,” he said.
Renouf and Schurhamer consider BU one of their primary rivals.
“We always seem to have scrappy games against them. The games always come down to the wire,” said Schurhamer.
Eleven of the last 14 meetings have been decided by two goals or less including BU’s 3-2 overtime win and 3-1 triumph a year ago.
BU has a 6-5-3 edge in those games.