It’s been a long month and half since the #17 Maine men’s hockey team has played a home game at Alfond Arena. The Black Bears will finally get that opportunity this Saturday night at 7 p.m. when they welcome in the red hot #9 Providence College Friars for a single conference matchup.
Providence (15-7-2, 10-3-1 Hockey East) is currently in first place in the league standings (31 points) and visits Orono riding a six game winning streak. The Friars began the streak by blitzing Maine by scores of 6-1 and 3-0 at Schneider Arena in Rhode Island back on the weekend of January 9th and 10th. PC since then have swept home and home series with both #13 Boston College and previously ranked #18 Boston University last weekend.
Maine (14-9-2, 8-7-0 Hockey East) took care of business this past weekend by garnering five out of a possible six conference points at UMass-Lowell with a 2-0 win on Friday and a 6-5 come from behind overtime victory on Saturday. The Black Bears however are stuck in a powerplay drought at the moment, converting on just 1 for their last 14 opportunities. That will need to be much better in that area if they hope to see success against Providence and going forward as they fight for a home playoff spot. Junior Albin Boija has started five of the last six games in net since the team returned from break at Denver on January 2nd. He was pulled for freshman Mathis Rousseau the last time he faced PC, after allowing three goals on eight shots in the 6-1 defeat on January 9th. Despite the shutout performance at Lowell last Friday, Boija seems to be having some problems tracking the puck glove side and that is where teams are attacking him. Maine sits in sixth place in the league standings with 21 points, just one point out of fifth behind Northeastern and three behind fourth place Boston University (who has played two more games). To have any shot at a playoff contest at home, the Black Bears must finish no lower than eighth. A top four finish would allow them to skip the Hockey East Opening Round (Wednesday, March 11th), and advance straight to a quarterfinal at the Alfond (Saturday, March 14th). The conference semifinals and championship game will be held at TD Garden on Friday and Saturday, March 20th and 21st.
As always, Eastern Maine Sports will have you covered with updates, videos, postgame interviews, and a full recap from the Maine-Providence matchup. You can follow the live updates on Facebook at Eastern Maine Sports or on X at EasternMESports.
Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco (UMaine Athletics)
