Their record is 100-43-14. They’ve been to three NCAA Tournaments; two Frozen Fours and an NCAA title game.

But because the six University of Maine hockey seniors want one more crack at an NCAA title, they won’t get caught up in the emotion of this weekend’s Seniors Night celebration.

They need two wins over last place Merrimack College to stay in the hunt for a home ice berth in the Hockey East quarterfinals and on track for the school’s ninth straight NCAA Tournament berth.

Maine is battling Vermont and UMass for fourth place and the final Hockey East home ice berth. The Bears are tied with UMass in fifth place, one point behind Vermont.

Maine visits UMass for two to close out the regular season on March 2-3. UMass faces Northeastern for two (home-and-home) this weekend while Vermont visits second place Boston University for a pair.

UVM hosts UMass Lowell for a pair to finish the season. Maine owns the tiebreaker over Vermont and has won the one game against UMass to date.

The seniors will address the crowd after Saturday night’s game but that’s the furthest thing from center and captain Michel Leveille’s mind.

“Coach [Tim Whitehead] asked me what order I’d like to go [in addressing the crowd] and I told him it didn’t matter. I just want to get two wins this weekend and go on to next weekend. Right now, my priority is getting home ice,” said Leveille, who is 21st on the school’s all-time scoring list with 137 points on 49 goals and 88 assists in 144 games.

“In the past, the seniors knew they were going to host a quarterfinal series [on Seniors Weekend],” said right wing Keith Johnson (131 games, 29 goals, 22 assists). “This year is different. We don’t have home ice locked up yet. We’re going to have to fight to the last game. So we’re not looking at this as a Seniors Night celebration. We need to win both games and then we can enjoy it after that.”

The Bears haven’t finished lower than fourth since the 1997-98 season (sixth).

“We don’t want to experience that by any means. We’ve got to bear down. The playoffs begin for us this weekend,” said senior defenseman Mike Lundin (151, 13 & 52).

Left wing Brent Shepheard said they know if they don’t finish strong, not only will this weekend represent their last two home games, they could miss the NCAA Tournament.

“Inconsistency has been our problem. We’ve been ranked as high as number one in the country and now we’re 12th and deservedly so. For the stretch drive, we’ve got to play the way we did when we were number one,” said Shepheard (115, 23 & 23).

Center Mike Hamilton (128, 18 & 42) and left wing Josh Soares (123, 47 & 55) echoed the sentiment of the group that the four years have gone by very quickly and all six feel they’ve grown and matured.

“My first year was real difficult because I wasn’t playing that much,” said Soares, who is tied for 46th on the all-time scoring list. “But, looking back on it, it will really help me out in the future.

“I’ve been through the struggles so now I know what to do to improve and how to keep positive. I’ve been very happy with my development the last three years,” said Soares.

Johnson feels he has improved every year and his time at Maine has been “awesome.”

Leveille said he has “really improved as a person off the ice as well as on the ice.”

“There have been some ups and downs but I’m finishing it out strong and I’m hoping to go out with a championship,” said Hamilton.

Lundin said he considers himself “lucky to be part of a program like this.

“Growing up [in Minnesota], I never expected to be out here. We’ve been to two Frozen Fours in three years and we’re hoping to make it three Frozen Fours in four years. You couldn’t ask for to play for a more competitive or a better hockey team,” said Lundin.

Whitehead said, “This has been a great group. They’ve accomplished a lot on the ice and off the ice. Five of the six are honor students and another is just below 3.0 [grade point average]. They’ve continued to improve in all areas of their lives. I’m very proud of them.”