It’s too bad the Boston University hockey team doesn’t get a Thanksgiving break with the rest of the school. The Terriers could use a few days off.

Instead, they get to play three tough, important games in six days, in dire need of some direction as their young season flutters along at 3-3-3 (2-3-2 Hockey East).

Now-No. 12 BU hobbled out of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena Saturday with more injuries than points on the weekend, as sophomore Dave Van der Gulik could hardly even move with a hip pointer and senior Kenny Magowan still had a gash in his hand from Friday night’s game at Walter Brown Arena.

Senior captain Mark Mullen needed a bucket for the bus ride home, junior defenders Ryan Whitney and Bryan Miller are playing with injuries suffered against Merrimack College Nov. 14 and freshman Eric Thomassian still has not found his way back into the lineup after an injury that same night in North Andover. BU coach Jack Parker said steady sophomore defenseman Jekabs Redlihs might have to wait another month to play his first game of the year.

And as if Terrier Nation needed some more good news, sophomore John Laliberte and senior Frantisek Skladany were wearing the light blue ‘do not hit me’ jerseys at practice Monday, each feeling the effects of slight concussions suffered against Lowell.

But luckily BU won’t have to limp very far this week, as tonight the Terriers stumble around the corner to No. 15 Harvard University’s Bright Hockey Center, then return to Walter Brown for games Friday and Sunday against other East Coast Athletic Conference and Ivy League schools No. 11 Dartmouth College and Yale University, respectively.

And though weakened, the Terriers will play on.

‘You’re missing important guys and guys you’d like to have in the lineup, but at the same time the guys that are filling in are doing a good job,’ Parker said after Monday’s practice. ‘I thought the guys that were only playing three lines the other night against Lowell really did a great job.

‘Unless you have severe injuries,’ he added, ‘unless you have something that’s gonna lose [someone] for the year, you have to absorb those things and be able to play with new guys in the lineup.’

The coach said Van der Gulik will likely not play tonight, but ‘might be ready for the weekend.’ Thomassian will put the jersey on again perhaps in a new line with fellow freshman Kenny Roche and Mullen, to lead the young ones.

Magowan, Whitney and Miller will be fine, and Skladany and Laliberte were not taking hits Monday simply as a precaution and will play tonight.

Sophomore E.J. Solimine will likely dress for his second straight game. He played on the fourth line Monday with juniors Dave Klema and Brian McConnell.

‘After Saturday night everybody got a lot of ice and everybody was tired,’ said junior forward Matt Radoslovich, who is tied for the team lead in goals (four) with Van der Gulik. ‘How [the injuries are] gonna play tomorrow? Not sure. We will have four solid lines, injury free.’

Radoslovich’s optimism will be necessary, as the Terriers cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves at such a crossroad in the season. Though his squad has been inconsistent so far, winning just three of nine hockey games, Parker will be looking for steady effort over the next week despite being shorthanded and banged-up something he did not get in the second period against Lowell Friday night.

He let the team know about it, and a much more focused group tied the pesky River Hawks the next night.

This week, the Terriers get not only two ranked teams, but also a pair of squads in Dartmouth and Yale (2-6-0, 2-4-0 ECAC) that will ‘be very difficult to outwork,’ according to Parker.

The Big Green the last undefeated team in the country at 4-0-3 (3-0-3) also boast ‘two big guns,’ Parker said, referring to sophomore Hugh Jessiman (five goals, four assists) and junior Lee Stempniak (six goals).

Much like Lowell, BU won three close games against Harvard (2-2-1, 2-2-1) last year two of them being in the first rounds of the Beanpot and the NCAA Tournament. It took a Freddy Meyer third-period goal to set up the BU-Boston College matchup in the Beanpot final, and the Terriers needed a third-period flurry to advance to play the University of New Hampshire in the NCAA Tournament.

But Terrier fans would be foolish to look past goalie Dov Grumet-Morris and the talented Crimson this time around.

‘Harvard’s got a lot of skill and a lot of skating ability and they’re gonna come at us with speed,’ Parker said.

Still not convinced that three non-conference games in November are so important?

Teams sitting at .500 are not locks for the NCAA Tournament, and these are the games the selection committee uses to put BU into focus on the national scene.

‘Harvard and Dartmouth, they are two teams that will be vying for the ECAC Championship and we want to be better than those teams,’ Parker said. ‘And we want to show we’re better than those teams, since that’s going to be important at the end of the year when it comes to the selection process.’

Still, the Terriers are a long way from being on the brink of sitting at home in late March. With just three losses, the Crystal Transport bus still has time to point itself in the right direction. But not too much time.

‘Right now we just want to get our bearings straight and just get on the right track and get a solid game under us so we can get the ‘W’ and work from there,’ Radoslovich said.

Parker’s goals no pun intended are simple enough.

‘I think it’s important that we start winning some hockey games, number one,’ he said. ‘And number two, it’s important we score some goals and feel good about ourselves because of it.’