ORONO – There is uncertainty surrounding a certainty for this weekend’s Hockey East men’s hockey series between the University of Maine Black Bears and the visiting Massachusetts Minutemen.

The teams will play at 7 tonight and at 4 on Sunday afternoon.

The certainty is that Maine must sweep the Minutemen to have any reasonable chance to catch the Minutemen for the eighth and final playoff spot in Hockey East.

A UMass sweep or a win and tie will leave the Bears out of the league playoffs for the first time since the inception of the league in 1984-85, excluding the 1996-97 season when they were banned from the Hockey East tournament because they had already been banned from the NCAA tourney for violating a number of NCAA rules.

Last-place Maine is six points behind the Minutemen – teams receive two points for a win and one for a tie – with six games left. Ninth-place Merrimack is one ahead of Maine with five left. UMass already owns a win over Maine so another victory will give the Minutemen the edge in the tie-breaker.

UMass has won five of the last six meetings over the past two seasons.

The uncertainty is Maine’s lineup.

Senior left wing Billy Ryan, who was Maine’s top returning scorer off last year’s Frozen Four team, has missed the last nine games with a stress fracture in his hip but could be back for the series. Right wing Andrew Sweetland, Maine’s leading scorer among nonseniors this season, missed the last three games with a back ailment, but he said Friday he intends to play.

Ryan said he will have to pass a series of physical tests this morning to get medical clearance to play.

“I couldn’t do the exercises [required to gain clearance] for last weekend’s games [at Boston University], but I know I can do them now,” said Ryan. “I feel good. I’ve been working hard after practice to make sure my wind won’t be a factor [when he returns]. My legs feel good.”

Sweetland said his back “feels a lot better. It won’t keep me out this weekend. It’s do-or-die for us.”

“We’d love to have them out there,” said junior goalie Ben Bishop. “Even if they’re only 50 or 60 percent [healthy], they can still put pucks in the back of the net.”

“They’re two of our top five scorers, and if they’re willing to come out and play hurt, that’ll pick us all up,” said freshman left wing Lem Randall.

Sweetland has six goals and five assists while playing in 22 of Maine’s 28 games. Ryan has 4 & 7 in 19 games.

The goal-starved Black Bears have scored just twice in their last three games and only 11 goals during their current seven-game losing streak.

UMass coach Don Cahoon said his team is going to have to “play well across the board” to beat the Bears.

“We know they’re going to play hard and Bishop has been nothing less than superb lately. It’s going to be a real challenge,” said Cahoon.

Bishop made 68 saves on 71 shots in 2-1 and 1-0 overtime losses at BU last weekend.

“I’ve just tried to focus on stopping the puck, nothing else,” said Bishop.

“He has given us a lot of confidence,” said Maine senior center Keenan Hopson, who feels the Bears have to find a way to generate odd-man rushes against the Minutemen to help snap out of their drought.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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