University of Maine sophomore goalie Ben Bishop won’t make the trip this weekend when the Bears face the University of Massachusetts in a crucial two-game series that could determine the fourth and final home ice berth for the Hockey East quarterfinals.

And University of Maine coach Tim Whitehead said it is unlikely he will play in the quarterfinals the next weekend.

Maine and UMass each have 29 points and have a one-point edge over Vermont, which entertains UMass Lowell for a pair. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head and Maine already has a win over UMass, plus it won the season series 2-1 against Vermont.

Bishop suffered an injury to his right groin making a save in a 5-1 win over Merrimack on Saturday night. He had previously injured the groin, but in a different spot, in a 2-1 loss to New Hampshire on Feb. 3 when he was run into by UNH’s Trevor Smith.

Freshman Dave Wilson will replace him.

“It’s certainly unfortunate to lose [Bishop], particularly this time of year. It’s unfortunate the way the original injury happened,” said Whitehead, still irritated by the action by Smith that caused the injury.

“More importantly, we need to focus on the task at hand, which is to prepare ourselves for Friday’s game. We have a great challenge in front of us. We’re very excited about it and we’re fully confident in David,” said Whitehead. “It’s important for everyone to understand that one man doesn’t win hockey games. The team does.”

“The bottom line is we need to play strong team defense and give our goaltender an opportunity to succeed,” added Whitehead.

Leveille is Lowe’s finalist

Men’s hockey senior center and captain Michel Leveille is one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

Men’s hockey was added this year.

The criteria include community service, character, and academics in addition to on-ice performance.

Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches, media, and sponsors to pick the winner.

“Michel is a very worthy finalist,” said Whitehead. “He’s one of the finest young men I’ve every worked with.”

“He came here as a young man who had never taken classes in English and he has consistently been an honor student. He had to sit out his first year – he couldn’t even practice with us – and yet he has become one of the best players we’ve ever had at Maine,” said Whitehead.

The other finalists are UMass’ Matt Anderson, Notre Dame’s David Brown, Air Force’s Bill Devoney, Denver’s Glenn Fisher, Curtis Fraser of Alaska-Fairbanks, Jeff Jakaitis of Lake Superior State, RPI’s Kirk MacDonald, Western Michigan’s Ryan Mahrie, and St. Cloud State’s Nate Raduns.