The stakes are high.

In all likelihood, the winner of the University of Maine’s Hockey East Tournament semifinal game against Boston University on Friday night at Boston’s FleetCenter will earn a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament’s Eastern Regional in Worcester, Mass., scheduled for March 23-24.

The loser will probably have to play a first-round game to get to the quarterfinals.

If Maine loses, the Bears may possibly have to sweat out NCAA Tournament selection.

“Coach [BU coach Jack Parker] has really emphasized that all week,” said Boston University senior defenseman Chris Dyment. “It’s a huge game for both of us. The winner will be rested up and will have to win just one game to get to the Frozen Four.”

Top seed New Hampshire, 27-6-3, will meet fourth seed UMass-Lowell, 22-12-3, in the 4 p.m. opener Friday with 22-9-7 Maine and 25-8-3 BU squaring off at 7. Saturday’s championship game will be at 8.

The Bears stunned the Terriers 9-6 and then battled to a 4-4 tie at BU’s Walter Brown Arena two weekends ago. Maine went 6-for-17 on the power play.

BU went 4-for-20.

Maine is 6-0-2 in its last eight games while BU is 11-1-1 in its last 13. BU beat Maine 3-2 in overtime on Nov. 9 in Orono.

“I think we have to set the tone right off the bat, on the first shift,” said Maine senior right winger and leading scorer Niko Dimitrakos. “We need to get traffic in front of their goalie [Sean Fields] and get a lot of shots.”

Maine junior defenseman Michael Schutte said the “biggest key will be discipline.”

The Bears were assessed a school-record 69 penalty minutes in the 4-4 tie and gave the Terriers 12 power-play chances. They converted on two of them.

Maine had gone 4-for-10 on the power play in the 9-6 win the previous night.

“I was surprised how dirty both games were,” said Parker. “That hasn’t been the M.O. of our games with them over the years. There’s an awful lot at stake. I don’t think either team will get involved in that kind of [in-your-face] stuff.”

Dyment said, “We can’t give them power plays. They have five guys who do a real good job. They beat us up pretty good the first night.”

Parker said the Bears are more of a “forechecking team than they’ve been in the past. They were more of an initial-rush team. They’re very good down low now. They have good puck possession. We can’t afford to spend much time in our zone. It’s important that we break out cleanly against their forecheck.

“They certainly have enough depth up front to come at you with all four lines,” added Parker.

BU is thin on defense with two regulars sidelined by injury and Maine captain and defenseman Peter Metcalf observed that their victim in the quarterfinals, Boston College, also had injury problems on defense.

“It’s important that we keep things simple. We’ll need to dump the puck into their zone and try to wear down their defense a little like we did against BC,” said Metcalf.

Maine junior center Martin Kariya said the Bears must focus on playing their systems and not deviating from them.

“The only time we’ve broken down lately is when we haven’t focused on playing our systems. BU is a good team and they’ll capitalize on our mistakes,” said Kariya.

In the opener, the River Hawks will try to upset the Wildcats, who have all but sewn up a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament.

UMass-Lowell probably has to win the tournament to get a berth.

The River Hawks will have to neutralize center and Hobey Baker Award finalist Darren Haydar (30 goals, 40 assists) and Colin Hemingway (31 & 31).

UML has been paced by Ed McGrane (21 & 15) along with the return of French Olympians Yorick Treille (10 & 16), Laurent Meunier (9 & 15) and defenseman Baptiste Amar (3 & 8).

The River Hawks are 21-8-1 with the French Olympians, 1-4-2 without them.