NCAA EASTERN REGIONAL FIRST ROUND

Maine vs. Harvard

Time, site: Saturday, noon; Worcester Centrum, Worcester, Mass.

Records: Maine 23-10-7, Harvard 15-14-4

Series, last meeting: Harvard leads 4-2, Harvard won 7-6 on Jan. 3, 1994

Key players: Maine – RW Niko Dimitrakos (19 goals, 28 assists), RW Colin Shields (28 & 17), D Peter Metcalf (7 & 38), C Martin Kariya (16 & 27), C Tommy Reimann (12 & 21), C Robert Liscak (13 & 17), D Michael Schutte (10 & 18), G Matt Yeats (5-7-3, 3.10 goals against average, .885 save percentage); Harvard – C Brett Nowak (14 & 15), C Dominic Moore (13 & 16), RW Tyler Kolarik (9 & 20), RW Tim Pettit (15 & 10), D Kenny Smith (3 & 10), D Peter Capouch (3 & 9), D Noah Welch (5 & 5), G Dov Grumet-Morris (10-7-1, 2.78, .896)

Outlook: These are two of the hottest teams in the country as Maine is 7-1-2 in its last 10 while Harvard has won five of its last seven and four in a row. This will be Maine’s fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance while Harvard will be making its first trip since 1994. Maine has won its last five NCAA tourney-opening games. The Bears’ seniors are 6-2 in NCAA play. Harvard has a lot of speed up front and good size. Grumet-Morris is a freshman so the Bears will want to shoot the puck as much as possible and drive to the net looking for loose pucks. Harvard is an aggressive forechecking team and will try to pressure Maine’s defense into miscues. Maine may be able to generate some odd-man rushes and will need to convert them. Shields has an eight-game points streak (8 goals, 5 assists) while Harvard’s Moore has a four-game, goal-scoring streak.