PROVIDENCE, R.I. – You knew some year it would come down to this.

Maine vs. Boston University. For the NCAA hockey title. For undisputed rule of the college hockey world. For bragging rights from now until the Fitzgerald Expressway runs all the way to Orono.

You knew it the way you know some day the Red Sox will play the Cubs in the World Series, the way you know Stallone and Schwarzenegger will wind up fighting to the death in the same film, the way you know Cher will run against Sonny for Congress.

It’s just so… right.

Seldom does life come as neatly packaged and labeled as this, does it? Blue vs. Red. Country vs. City. Pat’s Pizza vs. Legal Seafood. The Stillwater vs. the Charles. Shawn Walsh vs. Jack Parker.

The talk by the principals Friday in this hockey-crazed little metropolis a few hours down I-95 was all mutual respect and civility.

“I know a lot of the guys on that team and they’re great guys,” BU’s professorial Parker told a roomful of reporters, referring to the Maine players. “They’re great, hard-woking guys. We recruited some of those guys.”

And Walsh, Parker was asked?

A pause. “I have a professional relationship with Shawn Walsh,” came the reply, cold and hard as a puck. “I respect the type of team he puts on the ice. I respect the type of player he recruits. I have no other relationship with him.”

Only the theme music from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was missing.

Walsh also was sweetness and nice on the surface, calling BU as talented as the Michigan team it took Maine three overtimes to beat Thurday, emphasizing the great respect between the two programs.

And Parker, Walsh was asked?

“It’s not a one-on-one match. I know how good a coach Jack is. He does a great job preparing his team,” Walsh allowed carefully.

Players for both sides also stressed there was nothing personal here. Strictly business. They said this smiling so hard the veins stood out in their necks.

It was Maine defenseman Chris Imes who finally let slip what everyone already knew.

“I’d be careful if I was a security guard. It’s a pretty intense rivalry,” said the senior captain.

Parker and Walsh can try to downplay it. They can say it’s all created by the media and fans and caution their players not to say anything. It doesn’t change the fact there is a palpable tension in the air when anyone wearing BU red comes within a block of anyone wearing Maine blue, player, coach, or fan.

There’s too much history here to ignore. BU leads the lifetime series 26-25-3. Maine is 2-0-2 against the Terriers this year. BU’s Parker didn’t hesitate to publicly criticize Maine last year during the height of the team’s NCAA eligibility problems. Maine had to take it because Walsh did break rules.

Fans from other parts of the country can sense something big is happening.

This might be an all-East title party, the first in 10 years, since RPI beat Providence 2-1 in 1985, but fans from other regions have picked up on the intensity of a rivalry that doesn’t need an excuse like a national title to create hardcore hockey.

“We saw a group of BU fans cheering for us,” said Richard McDowell, a die-hard Michigan fan from Detroit who plans to be rink-side Saturday even though Maine just defeated his Wolverines 4-3 in perhaps the greatest college hockey game every played.

“The BU fans kept bowing to our goalie whenever he made a save,” continued McDowell, one of many fans strolling the sidewalk outside the hotel complex, waiting for Saturday to arrive. “Man, those people really don’t like Maine, do they?”

It’s an insular little world, this college hockey, built on three conferences spaced evenly across the continent that seldom play outside their own time zone. But the fans are knowledgeable.

“I wouldn’t miss this game,” said Charles Schweiger of Madison, Wisc., whose Badgers didn’t make it as far as Providence, bowing in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. “We don’t see many Eastern games. But if you know hockey you know Maine-BU is an intense rivalry. It should be a war.”

That’s hockey-talk, of course. It isn’t a war. It’s only… Maine-BU.

“Ken Dryden said great rivals give you your highest highs and your lowest lows,” said Maine’s Walsh. “That means one of us is going to be very high and one of us is going to be very low on Saturday.”

Get ready for the ride. It’s Maine vs. BU for the fifth time this season. Oh yes. The NCAA title is on the line.