ORONO, Maine – The #6 University of Maine men's ice hockey team returns to action this weekend with a pair of Hockey East games at Alfond Arena, hosting RV Northeastern on Friday and #20 UMass on Sunday.
 
The Black Bears and Huskies will face off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31 while Sunday's Feb. 2 battle with the Minutemen is slated for a 4 p.m. puck drop.
 
Both games on the weekend can be streamed live on ESPN+ with an international stream available via Hockey East/Stretch Internet while Sunday's contest will also stream on TSN+. The games can also be listened to via 92.9 FM in eastern Maine, 100.5 FM in southern Maine or online at GoBlackBears.com/MIHRadio.
 
Game 24 | #6 Maine vs RV Northeastern
Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 | 7:00 p.m.
Alfond Arena | Orono, Maine | ESPN+
 
Game 25 | #6 Maine vs #20 UMass
Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025 | 4:00 p.m.
Alfond Arena | Orono, Maine | ESPN+/TSN+
 
WHAT'S ON TAP
• The #6 University of Maine men's ice hockey team will host RV Northeastern for a single game on Friday night at Alfond Arena to close out the regular season series and then the Black Bears will welcome in #20 UMass on Sunday afternoon.
• Maine was off this past weekend, having last played Jan. 17-18 at home against UConn, falling 4-2 and picking up a 2-2 tie and shootout win.
• Northeastern played a single game over the weekend, falling 4-3 at home to Merrimack.
• The Black Bears and Huskies squared off back in October with Maine snapping a 16-game winless streak at Matthews Arena with a 4-1 win and 2-2 tie and shootout win.
 
A WIN ON FRIDAY WOULD. . .
• Move Maine to 16-5-3 on the year and 8-3-2 in Hockey East contests.
• Bump the Black Bears to 60-59-21 in the all-time series with the Huskies.
• Give Maine its first regular season series win against Northeastern since going 1-0-2 in three games during the 2012-12 season.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs NORTHEASTERN
• Maine holds an overall record of 59-59-21 in the all-time series with Northeastern including a mark of 37-22-10 at Alfond Arena.
• The Black Bears snapped a 16-game winless streak at Matthews Arena earlier this season with a 4-1 win over the Huskies on Oct. 25 ... it was Maine's first in at Matthews since Feb. 25, 2012 ... Maine came back from a 2-0 deficit the next night and won the shootout.
• The teams met three times during the 2023-24 season ... the Huskies won 6-3 in Boston on Feb. 2 before splitting a series later in the month ... Maine won the first night, 5-1, before falling the next night, 4-0.
• The first ever meeting in the series was on Dec. 1, 1977 at then-Boston Arena where Northeastern won, 7-4.
• Thirteen current Black Bears have at least one point against the Huskies, with Josh Nadeau and Thomas Freel each recording four points on one goal and three assists ... Sully Scholle has two goals while Nolan Renwick has two goals and one assist for three points.
 
ABOUT NORTHEASTERN
• Northeastern played a single game this past weekend, falling 4-3 at home to Merrimack to enter Friday night's contest at Maine with an overall mark of 9-11-3 and a conference record of 4-8-3.
• Jack Williams has a team-leading 29 points on 12 goals and 17 assists … in addition to Williams, two other Huskies have hit double-digit goals in Cam Lund (11-15-26) and Dylan Hryckowian (12-12-24).
• Cameron Whitehead has started all 23 games between the pipes, going 9-11-3 with a 2.64 goals against average and .914 save percentage.
• Northeastern is scoring an average of 2.5 goals per game while giving up 2.9 goals per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs UMASS
• Maine has an overall record of 61-28-10 in the all-time series with UMass, including a mark of 37-9-2 at Alfond Arena.
• Maine won all three regular season meetings last season, 1-0 on the road and 2-1 and 4-3 at home.
• Twelve current Black Bears have at least one point against the Minutemen ... Lynden Breen is Maine's active scoring leader against the Minutemen, notching nine points on four goals and five assists.
• Albin Boija earned his first career shutout in a 15-save road game at UMass on Feb. 3, 2024.
• The first-ever meeting in the series came on Jan. 26, 1979 at Alfond Arena, with Maine winning 8-3.
• Maine head coach Ben Barr spent five years as associate head coach at UMass ... his time in Amherst include a Hockey East regular season and tournament title, three NCAA tournament appearances, back-to-back NCAA title game appearances and the 2021 National Championship.
 
ABOUT UMASS
• UMass, who hosts Merrimack on Friday night, enters the weekend at 13-10-2 overall and 4-7-2 in Hockey East play.
• Last weekend, the Minutemen picked up two non-conference wins at home against Alaska Fairbanks, 4-2 and 7-3.
• Cole O'Hara leads all of Hockey East with 35 points on 14 goals and 21 assists … Aydar Suniev (14-13-27), Dans Locmelis (5-19-24), Jack Musa (9-11-20) and Kenny Connors (3-17-20) give UMass five different 20-point scorers.
• Goaltender Michael Hrabal has played the majority of minutes, going 11-8-2 with a .924 save percentage and 2.38 goals against average.
• The Minutemen have picked up two ranked road wins this season, upsetting a then #11 Boston University squad and a #10/9 Providence team
 
UP NEXT
• Maine will travel to Providence next weekend for two games, facing off against the Friars on Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8.