This, as they say, is it.
The Boston University men’s hockey team has hit the home stretch.
With eight games left before the end of the regular season, the Terriers (10-14-4, 8-8-3 Hockey East) have a chance to come out of this weekend with four pivotal points as they take on the University of Maine (8-15-3, 4-12-3) tonight and tomorrow night at Agganis Arena.
Up for grabs is also the possibility of BU climbing over .500 in the league for the first time this season.
“It’s been a long haul for us to get to this position — if we win [tonight] we could actually be over .500 in the league,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “Unheard of, if it was December.
“To have the opportunity to get over .500 is the only thing we’re thinking of.”
The Black Bears, however, will have other things on their minds, as they currently sit four points out of the eighth and final Hockey East playoff slot. Maine is riding abysmal six-game winless and five-game losing streaks, respectively.
The Terriers, on the other hand, have never been hotter. Having won its last two games — both against nationally-ranked opponents — BU is in search of its first three-game winning streak of 2007-08.
BU could be heating up at just the right time.
“We’re getting better goaltending,” Parker said. “We’ve done a much better job in our own zone of covering people and not giving up a lot of shots. People are also more comfortable with who they’re playing with. I think the entire team is getting more confident.”
Confidence is what the Terriers will need as they head into this final stretch, playing six games against teams surrounding them in the league standings: Northeastern University, Providence College and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Despite there being just four weeks left in the regular season, the Hockey East playoff seedings are still very much anyone’s game — and the Terriers find themselves amidst the log jam, tied for fifth.
This season has been something of an anomaly for both BU and Maine. Instead of finding themselves battling for the top of the conference, the Terriers are stuck in the middle of the league, while Maine is in a battle to stay out of the conference cellar and slide into the eighth playoff spot.
“Parity has been in this league for a long time, but it’s certainly unusual that Maine and BU are playing this late in the year and we’re both under .500,” Parker said. “I’m sure that Maine, and I know BU, are hoping that it doesn’t remain this way in the future. I think you’ve got to give the other teams credit: Providence is playing very well this year, UMass has played well up and down, Northeastern has played well. There are a lot of good teams in the middle of the pack that ordinarily BU and Maine wouldn’t have to be worrying about.”
Make no mistake: Maine will not roll over for the Terriers this weekend. One year removed from a Frozen Four appearance, the Black Bears certainly aren’t used to the struggles they have faced this year.
And without stealing a few points this weekend, Maine’s playoff outlook will get bleaker by the minute.
“These are huge games for them, there’s no question about it,” Parker said. “If they don’t get at least two points this weekend, I would say they’ll have a real hard time getting into the playoffs. Not to make the top-four — just to get into the playoffs, and that would be unheard of.
“They will be ready to play because they know how much it means. It probably means even more to them than it does to us. It might mean more psychologically to us, but it means more life or death to them.”