Last season, the University of Maine men’s hockey team reached the Hockey East semifinals and NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
The 2011-12 campaign was also the last time the Black Bears beat Northeastern University at Matthews Arena in Boston.
UMaine triumphed 7-1 with Joey Diamond and Spencer Abbott each scoring a pair of goals in the Feb. 25, 2012, contest.
The Black Bears will look to snap a 16-game winless streak (0-14-2) and 14-game losing streak at Matthews Arena on Friday and Saturday. Both games start at 7 p.m.
It will be their last chance to win a regular season game at Matthews Arena because the 115-year-old rink, the oldest indoor ice rink in the world and the home of the first National Hockey League game played in the United States, will be demolished after the season.
It was formerly known as Boston Arena, and the Boston Bruins won their first game there on Dec. 1, 1924, 2-1 over the Montreal Maroons.
UMaine is 3-0 and ranked sixth in the country in both major polls while the Huskies are 1-2.
It will be the Hockey East opener for both teams.
UMaine is coming off a sweep of nationally ranked Quinnipiac (2-1, 6-5 in overtime) while the Huskies dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions at No. 1 Denver, the defending national champion.
“It’s a tough place to play,” UMaine head coach Ben Barr said. “They have another really good team with a lot of skill.”
He said in their recent games at Matthews his Black Bears haven’t been good enough.
“Whether it be on the penalty kill, the power play, goaltending, it’s something. That’s the game of hockey. So we’re going to have to go down there, on the road in Hockey East, and one of those aspects of the game can’t be terrible. I know we’re going to work hard but the execution piece is going to be important,” the fourth-year coach added.
UMaine senior defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale said he doesn’t want to graduate from UMaine having “never gotten a win at Northeastern. It would be fun for us to get that job done.
”They’re obviously a really good team and they’ve had our number at home. The simpler we can keep it, the more we can play our style of game and it will hopefully result in a good outcome,” Breazeale said.
Senior center Nolan Renwick said winning a conference road game is important.
“It’s our first game outside the Alfond Arena and we have to stick to what makes us good at…
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