They have the blueprint.

Now the question is, can the University of Maine men’s hockey team follow it and construct a late-season run to earn a respectable seeding for the Hockey East Tournament?

The Bears are in ninth place, two points out of the eighth and final Hockey East playoff spot.

The team just ahead of them, Massachusetts, is their opponent Saturday night after the Bears visit UMass Lowell on Friday night.

UMass leads Maine by two points but has played one more league game than the Bears.

Maine played well over the weekend against the nation’s No. 8-ranked Boston College Eagles but came out with just one point courtesy of Friday’s come-from-behind 3-3 overtime tie. BC beat Maine 4-2 Saturday with an empty-net goal.

Trailing 3-2 in the third period Saturday, Maine freshmen Andrew Sweetland and Tanner House both hit the crossbar.

Without injured senior left wing Billy Ryan (hip), junior left wing Chris Hahn (broken jaw) and senior center Keenan Hopson (shoulder), the 12 forwards Maine had on the ice for Saturday’s game had combined for 56 career goals compared to the 214 scored by BC’s 12 forwards.

Maine is 2-2-1 in its last five games but has allowed just 11 goals (excluding the empty-netter). Maine had allowed 13 in its previous two games.

Resurgent junior goalie Ben Bishop has an impressive .929 save percentage over the five-game stretch.

“We know what we have to do to be successful,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Obviously, we’ll get a big boost when we get some of our top guys back from injury. When that happens, other players who played in their place will be better because of the experience they received. Our team will be stronger.

“In the meantime, to win hockey games we certainly need to stick to the system regardless of who the opponent is,” added Whitehead.

That system consists of a defense-first motto that has been the trademark of the program. Team defense has been even more important this season because of Maine’s inconsistent goal production and struggling power play.

The Bears know they will have to play physical and limit the opponents’ odd-man rushes (3-on-2s, 2-on-1 and breakaways) by making sure the third forechecker stays high in the offensive zone and by backchecking with a sense of urgency.

They will also need to continue to protect the front of their net.

The power play did show promise over the weekend with a 3-for-10 showing.

Maine entered the series with the second-worst power play among the 59 Division I programs at 7.4 percent. Only Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute had a worse power play.

“If we play the way we did against BC in every single game, we’ll get wins,” said junior defenseman Simon Danis-Pepin, who had a goal in each game.

“We’re making progress every game. It’s encouraging,” said Sweetland.

The Bears have 12 games remaining.

Whitehead said he didn’t expect Ryan, Hopson or Hahn to play this weekend.

UMaine track competes at BU

The UMaine track and field teams competed at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University over the weekend against BU and many other Universities from the Northeast.

Lindsay Burlock of Caribou paced the women with a sixth-place finish in the 400 meters, finishing in 58.91 seconds. Tanya Simard and Tess Perry finished seventh and eighth in the triple jump while Simard added a 10th in the long jump.

Maegan Burke took seventh in the shot put, Mieralyn Wiechman eighth in the weight throw, Courtney Francis 10th in the 55 hurdles and Allyson Howatt seventh in the 200 meters.

On the men’s side, Jeff Ramos cleared 6 feet, 4 inches in the high jump, good for third place. Thomas Williams took ninth in the long jump and 12th in the triple jump. Mark Liimakka soared to seventh place in the pole vault, Max Ludwig took sixth in the 55 hurdles while the 4×400-meter relay team was seventh.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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MAINE’S REMAINING GAMES

Feb. 1 – at UMass Lowell, 7 p.m.

Feb. 2 – at Massachusetts (Amherst), 7 p.m.

Feb. 8 – New Hampshire, 7 p.m.

Feb. 9 – New Hampshire, 7 p.m.

Feb. 15 – at Boston U., 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 16 – at Boston U., 7 p.m.

Feb. 23 – Massachusetts, 7 p.m.

Feb. 24 – Massachusetts, 4 p.m.

Feb. 29 – at Vermont, 7:30 p.m.

March 1 – at Vermont, 7 p.m.

March 7 – UMass Lowell, 7 p.m.

March 8 – UMass Lowell, 7 p.m.