ORONO – Although the University of Maine men’s hockey team won’t have a chance to play for the Hockey East regular-season championship when it hosts newly crowned champion Boston College this weekend, there is still plenty to play for.

The Bears have clinched second and will host Merrimack, University of Massachusetts Lowell, or Boston University in a best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series March 12-14.

“It’s a very important series for us,” said junior defenseman Troy Barnes. “Beating BC would give us a big boost, confidence-wise, going into the playoffs.”

“Two wins this weekend would really help us get a number one seed for an [NCAA] eastern regional. We want to stay out east and keep our fans with us,” said junior center Ben Murphy.

Maine’s late-season swoon a year ago resulted in it being sent to the NCAA Midwest Regional where the Bears lost to host Michigan 2-1 in the first round.

Boston College, 26-4-4, is second in the current U.S. College Hockey Online poll while the 24-7-3 Black Bears are third.

The games will have NCAA Tournament ramifications.

“We’re a little disappointed that we aren’t going to have an opportunity to play for a championship this weekend,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “But if we continue to improve and focus on our game plan, we hope to have an opportunity to play for a Hockey East [tournament] championship in three weeks.”

Sophomore center Jon Jankus said, “We want to send a message that we’re a team to be reckoned with.”

Whitehead and his players feel facing a topnotch opponent will provide them with a valuable playoff tune-up.

“You want to play the best and measure yourself against the best,” said junior right wing John Ronan. “All year they’ve been the best: first in Hockey East and No. 1 in the country [last week]. This will be a good test to see where we’re at and what we have to do to improve for the tournament.”

“It’s going to be tremendous competition and we’ll be a better team for it, no matter what happens this weekend,” said Whitehead.

Howard has been on a roll

How well has sophomore goalie Jimmy Howard played since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for five weeks?

In seven games, Howard has compiled a minuscule 0.84 goals-against average and a remarkable .966 save percentage to go with his 3-2-2 record.

Both losses were by 1-0 scores.

Howard leads the nation with his overall 1.27 GAA and .949 save percentage.

He has two shutouts in his last three starts.

“It really consists of a great team effort,” said Howard, Hockey East’s goalie of the month and defensive player of the week. “I’m taking it one game at a time and trying to go out there and have fun because it’s only a game.”

He struggled down the stretch last season and was pulled in both of his postseason starts: 5-3 and 4-2 losses to Massachusetts in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

“This game is crazy,” said Howard. “In the second half last year, everything seemed to go in. This year, I’m seeing everything. It has made a big difference.

“I learned a lot from last year. I learned that you can’t carry things over from [previous] games. You’ve got to let it go and look to the future. You’ve got to prepare yourself for every outing and not dwell on things that have [already] happened,” said Howard.