ORONO – The hockey playoffs are here and that means the goaltenders will take center stage.

Last year, the University of Maine’s Black Bears rode the playoff netminding of Jimmy Howard and, to a lesser extent, Frank Doyle, to an NCAA championship game appearance.

In the Hockey East and NCAA Tournaments, Howard posted a 5-1 record, a 1.20 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage.

The Bears will need a similar performance from Howard beginning tonight when they entertain UMass Lowell to open their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series. The winner of the series between fourth seed Maine (18-11-7) and fifth seed UMass Lowell (20-10-4) will not only advance to the HE semifinals in Boston the following weekend, it will also probably earn an NCAA Tournament berth.

The loser won’t make the NCAAs.

Howard, a junior who is 17-11-7 with a 2.02 GAA and a .919 save percentage this season, will be opposed by junior John Yaros (4-1, 1.44, .951) on Friday night. Peter Vetri (13-6-3, 2.45, .913) could start Saturday’s game for UML depending upon Friday’s outcome.

“This is what it [comes down to] every year. It’s a great challenge for goalies. Usually, the team that makes it to the Frozen Four and becomes the national champion is the team whose goaltender gets hot,” said Howard. “This is the second season for everyone. There’s a clean slate now. It’s live or die. You have to go out and play like it’s your last [game].”

He knows whoever mans the opposing crease will be a formidable opponent.

“They are both good goalies. They will bring their A games, especially after we swept them two weekends ago [2-0, 5-3]. They’ll want to come back and not only put on a show for the crowd, they’ll want to steal two games. And they’re definitely capable of stealing some games,” said Howard. “We’re going to have to drive the net hard, play playoff hockey and get some dirty goals.”

Howard, who allowed two goals or less in 10 of his last 15 starts, feels he is playing well right now and that his playoff run last year has helped his confidence.

“But this is a new year with a new team. I need to keep working hard, remain focused and go out and just worry about things I can control,” said Howard. “Lowell’s power play is really good. They’re dangerous up front. They like to stretch guys [with long passes] so we’re going to have to limit their odd man rushes.”

Maine sophomore center Michel Leveille said “there’s no way we would have gotten this far without Jimmy. He has played real well for us.”

UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald considers Howard to be “one of the top players in the country” and said Yaros and Vetri have backboned their current 16-5-3 stretch.

“I’ve been getting an extra two hours of sleep at night,” said MacDonald. “In the last two games against Maine, they gave us a chance [to win] late into the third period.”

Maine senior right wing and co-captain John Ronan said it’s going to be a “fight to get goals” against the River Hawks.

“Both of their goalies are solid,” said Ronan.

However, Ronan and his teammates know they have a gem of their own.

“We’ve got Jimmy. We’re happy,” said Ronan. “Look at what he did last year. How he carried us through. Hopefully, we won’t have to rely on him as much as we did last year. But, at the same time, it’s a good feeling having him back there.”

“Jimmy allows us to play more freely and not worry about making mistakes,” said junior center Derek Damon.

Damon said the Bears are going to have to get traffic in front of the River Hawk goalies and screen them, which is something “we haven’t been able to do consistently every game. And that has hurt us.”

Plenty of tickets are still available.