The University of Maine men’s hockey team will be short a regular forward when it takes on Boston College at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Friday night.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead said freshman forwards Robby Dee, Keif Orsini and Andrew Sweetland will miss the game due to injuries.

A defenseman probably will be moved up to forward, but Whitehead hasn’t decided yet which one.

The BC game will be the only one on the weekend for Maine, which has seven one-game weekends until Jan. 25-26 when the Bears begin a stretch of seven two-game weekends with a home set against BC.

Sweetland, a right wing, suffered a back injury when he was cross-checked during Maine’s 4-1 win over Mercyhurst two Saturdays ago and he missed last weekend’s two victories over Northeastern University. He had two assists in four games.

Whitehead couldn’t divulge the injuries to left wing Dee and center Orsini but said Dee got hurt in the Saturday victory over Northeastern and Orsini suffered his injury in practice Tuesday. Orsini had two assists in five games and Dee had yet to register a point in six games.

The Maine coach said the injuries to Dee and Orsini “weren’t serious” and he hopes to have all three back in time for Maine’s home series against Providence in two weekends.

Maine has 15 eligible forwards but Whitehead said he intends to redshirt Bangor’s Nick Payson so Payson can use this season as a development year practicing with the team and still retain four years of eligibility beginning next fall.

Maine has eight defensemen so Whitehead said the final forward spot will be occupied by junior Matt Duffy, sophomore Brett Carriere or freshman Mike Banwell. One of the others will serve as the No. 6 defenseman.

The Bears enter the BC game with a four-game winning streak and a 4-2 record. Maine is 2-0 in Hockey East following its 3-2 and 4-3 wins at Northeastern.

The Maine players were pleased to get a pair of road wins but said there is a lot of work to be done.

“We have some defensive work we need to work on,” said senior center Wes Clark. “We’ve got to protect the front of our net better.”

“We had letdowns in the third period,” said senior defenseman and captain Travis Ramsey. “We’ve got to play 60 minutes and not let up.”

However, Ramsey like the team’s effort.

“I liked the way we worked. We really worked hard,” said Ramsey.

Senior left wing Vince Laise added, “We didn’t do the little things that made us successful over the first 45 minutes of the game. We’ve got to be consistent throughout the game.”

Three Maine women All-AE

Three University of Maine women’s soccer team players received All-America East honors Wednesday.

Senior striker Laura Harper was chosen to the first team by the league’s coaches for the second straight year while striker Laura Martel of Lewiston and back Angelica Hodgson, both sophomores, were second team picks.

Harper has scored four goals, including three game-winners, and assisted on two more for the Black Bears. She was tied for second in the league in game-winners.

Martel is Maine’s leader in goals with five and points with 11. She is tied for fourth in America East in goals and goals per game.

Harper and Martel have both been previously selected to the league’s All-Rookie team.

Hodgson had one goal, the game-winner in the 5-0 triumph over Holy Cross, but, more importantly, she helped anchor a defense that allowed 0.83 goals per game.

Maine, 6-7-3 overall and 4-3-1 in the conference, earned the fifth seed and will travel to Stony Brook, 7-4-5 and 4-2-2, respectively, for tonight’s 7:00 America East quarterfinal.

Maine beat Stony Brook 1-0 in Orono this past Sunday on a Harper penalty kick.

Bowdoin, USM nationally ranked

Bowdoin College’s Polar Bears and the University of Southern Maine’s Huskies were ranked in the top 10 in women’s basketball in the USA Today/ESPN Division III preseason poll. The poll is chosen by a board of 11 Division III coaches.

Bowdoin, which finished 29-2 a year ago and reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, was selected fifth and USM, which was 27-3 last season and made it to the Sweet 16, was ranked 10th.

Bates College of Lewiston also received votes.