More lore in store for BU-Maine

It was Nov. 20, 1979, and the site was Walter Brown Arena in Boston. The University of Maine men’s hockey team was making its debut in Division I after spending its first two seasons in Division II and it was playing one of the nation’s most storied programs: Boston University.

The Terriers had won NCAA championships in 1971, ’72 and ’78.

BU had gone 143-36-4 in six seasons under coach Jack Parker.

On that November night, the Bears gave a surprisingly good account of themselves in a 5-3 loss that wasn’t decided until BU scored an insurance goal with 3:17 remaining.

Parker tipped his hat to the Bears afterward, saying “We were very lucky to win the game. Maine outplayed us.”

Two of the Maine goals were scored by the school’s current No. 3 and No. 10 career point-getters: Gary Conn (221) and Joe Crespi (168).

John Tortorella, who played on a line with Crespi that night, led Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup last season as its head coach.

BU and Maine will renew their rivalry on Friday and Saturday evenings in Orono.

They will be the 89th and 90th meetings between the two. Maine leads 41-40-7.

To say a lot has transpired between the two archrivals since Nov. 20, 1979, would be an understatement.

They have met in an NCAA championship game, with BU winning 6-2 on April 1, 1995, at the Providence (R.I.) Civic Center. They met in the NCAA Tournament’s quarterfinal round on March 24, 2002, with Maine triumphing 4-3 at the Worcester (Mass.) Centrum.

Maine ended BU’s season with a 1-0 victory in the Hockey East semis last year.

There was a much-publicized feud between Parker and the late Shawn Walsh before the two coaches settled their differences.

BU once won 13 consecutive meetings before Maine won the next 11.

BU was the only team to beat Maine during the Bears’ 42-1-2 NCAA championship season (1992-93), rallying for a 7-6 overtime win that ended Maine’s 44-game regular-season unbeaten streak.

Maine’s most dramatic come-from-behind win came at the expense of BU as the Bears erased a 6-1 deficit to win 8-7 on Feb. 19, 1980.

Four of their last five games have been decided by one goal and the winning team didn’t score more than two goals.

Boston College is probably considered BU’s biggest rival and New Hampshire may have surpassed BU as Maine’s chief rival.

But the BU-Maine rivalry is among the best in college hockey. Every piece of ice is contested and there are always plenty of bone-crunching hits.

Tickets are hard to come by, although BU’s new state-of-the-art Agganis Arena holds 6,300, 2,616 more than Walter Brown Arena.

This weekend’s series is crucial for both teams.

Maine is unranked in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll while BU has slipped to 11th. Both are four games over .500 and need strong finishes to ensure inclusion in the NCAA Tournament.

It is more important for Maine since the Bears are tied for just 15th in the USCHO.com PairWise rankings while BU is tied for fifth.

Maine appears to finally be finding its identity.

But the Bear forwards will need to continue back-checking tenaciously to help out the improving defense corps and attack the opposing net relentlessly.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.