There will be plenty of scoreboard watching this weekend around Hockey East as there is a battle for every playoff spot except the top seed, which was annexed by the University of New Hampshire two weekends ago.

There will be plenty of tension at the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena in Orono where the Black Bears entertain UMass Lowell on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Maine wasn’t able to make up any ground on Massachusetts this weekend in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot and a date with the Wildcats for a best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series at the Whittemore Center in Durham.

Maine split at Vermont and UMass divided a home-and-home series with Boston University, each winning at home. Meanwhile, Merrimack kept its slim hopes alive for the eighth spot by earning a 1-1 overtime tie with UNH on Saturday night in North Andover, Mass.

UMass leads Maine by two points and Merrimack by four points.

UMass and Merrimack play a home-and-home series this weekend with Friday night’s game in Amherst, Mass., and Saturday’s in North Andover.

UMass Lowell has a remote chance to earn a home-ice berth as the River Hawks are tied for sixth with Northeastern, three points behind fourth-place Providence and Boston College.

If Maine and UMass wind up tied, Maine will win the tie-breaker based on the head-to-head criteria since the Bears won two of their three meetings.

The Merrimack Warriors would win all the other tiebreakers because they’ve beaten Maine two out of three and, since they will have to sweep UMass to force a tie-breaker, they will also win the head-to-head vs. UMass.

Merrimack would win a three-way tie because it would be 4-2 vs. Maine and UMass; Maine would be 3-3 and UMass would be 2-4.

So Maine has to earn at least a win and a tie against the River Hawks to have a shot at eighth.

Maine players said they can’t afford to watch the scoreboard this weekend.

“We have to just focus on Lowell,” said Maine junior right wing Chris Hahn. “If we don’t get points, it won’t matter what anybody else does.”

“We’ve got to win our games and see how it plays out,” said senior center Keenan Hopson.

“We need the four points and that’s the only thing we can control. So that’s what we need to do,” said Maine senior left wing and assistant captain Billy Ryan.

Senior defenseman and assistant captain Bret Tyler said the River Hawks will provide them with more than enough to think about on their own.

“They’ve played us extremely tough this year,” said Tyler referring to UML’s 6-0 win over Maine Dec., 29 in the championship game at the Florida College Classic and the 3-2 River Hawk triumph Feb. 1 at Lowell.

UMass Lowell had lost 14 straight to the Black Bears entering this season.

Maine is 12-0-1 vs. the River Hawks at Alfond Arena, including 10 straight wins dating back to a 3-1 loss on Feb. 17, 2001.

Bears set school records

The Black Bears set a couple of school records while being shut out by Joe Fallon and the Vermont Catamounts 2-0 on Friday night.

It was the sixth time Maine has been shut out this season, which broke the previous record of five set during 2003-2004.

And by being held to one goal or less for the 13th time eclipsed the previous mark of 12 owned by the 2004-2005 team.

Maine was shut out three times in 2004-2005 and scored one goal nine times.

Ironically, Maine reached the NCAA title game in 2003-2004, losing to Denver 1-0 in the final, and made it to the NCAA tourney during 2004-2005 where it lost to Minnesota 1-0 in the first round.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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