ORONO – The University of Maine’s men’s hockey team had a rare February weekend off from games and the players said the break was useful as they prepare for their final six regular season games leading up to the Hockey East Tournament.

The Black Bears will travel to Providence College for a two-game series this weekend before returning home for a pair with UMass Lowell on Feb. 25-26 and finishing up with two at Boston College (March 4-5).

The Bears, 15-9-6 overall and ranked 14th in the U.S. College Hockey Online.com/CSTV poll, had their eight-game unbeaten streak snapped in a 2-1 loss at New Hampshire 10 days ago. Maine is 5-1-3 in 2005 and 8-1-4 in its last 13 Hockey East games.

“It was very beneficial,” said junior goalie Jimmy Howard. “We had a great week of practice. The guys were really moving out there. Practices were very uptempo. It was fun out there. It was good for us to take a step back and get refocused for the last six games.

“It has been a tough second half because every weekend has been like a playoff weekend. Having a weekend off and being able to lie around and catch up on sleep has been good,” Howard added.

“It was a good break for everyone,” said sophomore right wing Keith Johnson who acknowledged that they had a productive week of practice. “We hit on a lot of stuff, like the power play. We worked on a lot of skills. We really focused on passes. Making harder passes, crisp passes, tape-to-tape.”

Freshman defenseman Bret Tyler added, “And we worked on one-timers, getting shots to the net and going to the net for rebounds.”

Senior defenseman Troy Barnes said some of the players were able to heal their “bumps and bruises” and hopes the Bears are able to take their game to the next level.

“We’ve definitely been playing good hockey but, by no means, have we played our best hockey yet,” said Barnes. “This gave us an opportunity to work on the little things we need to improve on to help us down the stretch.”

The Maine power play, which was in a 2-for-40 funk earlier this season, has gone into a mini-slump with just one goal in its last 16 opportunities.

“We worked on it all day Friday. We’ll bounce back,” said Tyler.

Maine has allowed only 12 goals in its last nine games but has been held to three goals or less in six of them.

The Bear players like the fact they control their own destiny. They are currently tied for 16th in the PairWise Rankings that select the at-large teams to the 16-team NCAA Hockey Tournament.

If the tournament started today, the Bears would be on the outside looking in.

“It’s up to us,” said Howard.

“We’ve got to do our job and get some wins down the stretch,” said senior center Ben Murphy.

“We can’t worry about what other teams are doing. If we win our last games, things will take care of themselves,” said junior defenseman Steve Mullin.

“That’s what I love about [the schedule],” said Barnes. “It would be a lot worse if we were playing teams that weren’t ranked. It wouldn’t help us. Two of the teams we have to beat to get in the [NCAA] Tournament are Lowell and BC. It will make us work a little bit harder.”

BC is tied for third in the PairWise Rankings and is ranked second in the country in the USCHO.com/CSTV poll while UMass Lowell is tied for 13th in the PairWise Rankings and is 13th in the poll.

That doesn’t mean the Bears expect an easy time of it against a 7-18-4 Providence team that is just 1-8-2 in 2005. The Friars have three ties against league leader BC.

“It’s going to be a great challenge to try to get four points down there,” said Johnson. “They’ve tied BC three times so they’ve shown they can play with the best. We’ve definitely got to be ready.”

Bears get equipment manager

The Maine men’s hockey team has a new equipment manager courtesy of the NHL’s New York Rangers.

Forty-three-old James “Beets” Johnson, who is in his fifth season as an assistant equipment manager with the Rangers, has taken over for Peter Richmond, who has left the program after nearly three years.

The NHL season is likely to be cancelled as the owners and players association can’t reach a collective bargaining agreement and Johnson, like many other NHL employees, was eager to get back to work.

“It’ll be pretty exciting. It’ll be a little different atmosphere. I’ve heard this [Alfond Arena] is a great barn to play in. It should be fun,” said the Virginia, Minn., native.

Johnson said Maine Athletic Director Patrick Nero contacted the Rangers about filling the position and head equipment manager Acacio Marques suggested that he look into it.

Johnson got approval from the Ranger brass to explore the opportunity and was hired last week. He will be with the program for the rest of the season.

“I’m excited to get back to work. I’ve been antsy all year. This is something new. It’ll be a new challenge. Everyone has been awesome. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Johnson, a former center for the St. Scholastica College hockey team in Duluth, Minn.

“I just want to do whatever I can to help out. Hopefully, we can get on a good run here,” said Johnson, who spent time playing hockey and working in Sun Valley, Idaho and was the equipment manager for the Idaho Steelheads of the West Coast Hockey League where he got to know former Black Bears Cal Ingraham and Blair Allison.