Tourney looming over struggling Bears Remaining league games are pivotal

Based on the latest USCHO.com PairWise Rankings, if the NCAA hockey tournament started today, the University of Maine’s men’s hockey team wouldn’t be making its eighth consecutive trip to the tourney.

The primary reason the 14-8 Black Bears are tied for 21st in the PairWise Rankings, which mimic the formula used by the NCAA to choose the 16-team field, is that they are 1-6 against teams ahead of them in the Hockey East standings and PairWise rankings.

The Bears will try to start climbing up the standings and PairWise rankings when they host the 12-8-1 Providence College Friars on Friday and Saturday evenings. Providence is 20th in the PairWise rankings and ahead of them in the league standings.

“It’s a must-win weekend, that’s for sure,” said Maine senior defenseman Steve Mullin. “We don’t want to be in the same situation we were in last year, going into the Hockey East quarterfinals in a must-win situation.

“We want to put ourselves in good position [to make the NCAA tourney] and there’s no better weekend to start than right now,” added Mullin.

Maine is coming off 3-2 and 5-4 losses at Boston University while Providence lost at home to Boston College 4-1 and UMass Lowell 4-3 (OT).

Mullin and his teammates feel the major reason they have gone 6-7 over their last 13 games is their inability to put together a complete 60-minute performance.

“We’ve played 40-minute games. But we’ve got to start playing a full game,” said sophomore goalie Matt Lundin. “We’re almost there but we’re not quite there yet. This is a huge weekend for us.”

Maine senior right wing and captain Greg Moore added, “We’ll play two good periods but usually that one bad period kills us. We have to start being more consistent on every shift.”

Those six losses have been by a total of eight goals.

Sophomore left wing Billy Ryan, who will return after missing four games with a shoulder injury, said with parity in the league, “you “can’t afford to take a period off.”

Senior center Derek Damon said Maine “has to tighten up defensively.

“We have to recognize dangerous situations. We aren’t doing that right now and it’s costing us. When we turn the puck over and don’t get back defensively, we’re in for a long game. The teams ahead of us can really put the puck away.”

Damon said Providence is like BU in that its forwards are strong puck protectors and they like to cycle the puck in the offensive zone.

“It will be important for us to have our heads on a swivel and focus on our jobs in the defensive zone,” said Damon.

Sophomore center Keenan Hopson had another explanation.

“We’ve got to score more goals. Two goals isn’t enough,” he said.

Maine has been held to two goals or less in five of those six losses.

Maine will be without one of its hottest scorers in senior center Michel Leveille (knee) and its top scoring defenseman in Bret Tyler (ankle).

“It’s really going to hurt but we have to pick each other up. Other guys will have a chance to step up and show they belong to be out there in key situations,” said Damon.