College Sports

Maine men have made Hockey East a three-team race with Boston College and Boston University

The Black Bears have been a stingy bunch, allowing just 1.8 goals per game, good for third in the nation behind Minnesota State and BC.

Maine goalie Albin Boija has a 1.62 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

By Andrew Mahoney, The Boston Globe

4 minutes to read

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A glance at the Hockey East men’s standings suggests the chase for the regular-season crown appears to be a three-horse race.

While Boston College and Boston University each played just one conference game last weekend ahead of the first round of the Beanpot, Maine made up some ground with wins over Northeastern (3-1) and UMass (3-2) to jump ahead of BU by 1 point into second place, and 3 points behind BC.

Maine (17-5-3, 9-3-3) also moved up to fourth in the PairWise, the system used to select and seed the NCAA Tournament field, and has a game in hand on the Terriers and Eagles.

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The Black Bears have been a stingy bunch, allowing just 1.8 goals per game, good for third in the nation behind Minnesota State (1.6) and BC (1.7). Sophomore Albin Boija (16-5-3) has set the tone between the pipes, posting a 1.62 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.

Coach Ben Barr has been impressed with his goalie’s mental makeup.

“He’s very strong between the ears,” said Barr. “He’s an athletic kid. He’s a good goalie, obviously, and he’s technically pretty sound.”

Boija, a native of Sweden, came up big in the final minute of Sunday’s win over UMass, lunging back to his left to glove a snipe from sophomore Dans Locmelis with 29 seconds remaining to preserve the one-goal lead. Boija was named the conference’s goaltender of the week after stopping 44 of 47 shots in the two wins.

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“He wants to be in there in those tough moments,” said Barr. “He wants to be out there. There’s a big difference between players that are just existing in those moments and players that want to be in those moments. And I think he’s one of those guys that wants to win in that moment.”

The defense has been strong in front of him, as Maine has not been outshot all season and is surrendering just 22.4 shots allowed per game, best in the country. Junior Brandon Holt was named the Hockey East defender of the week after registering a goal and an assist and blocking five shots.

“He does everything well,” said Barr. “His skating mechanics and shooting mechanics are really good. When he gets puck at the point, and there’s a shot lane, he’s going to take it. His head is always up. He’s not overhandling the puck. It’s in a place where he could shoot it. He’s excellent defensively. Rarely gets beat, if ever, defensively, so there’s nothing he doesn’t do well.”

Boija is getting offensive support, as well. The Black Bears average 3.4 goals per game, tied for ninth in the nation, with Harrison Scott (15 goals, 13 assists) leading the team in points. Taylor Makar already has matched his career best of 10 goals, four of which have been game-winners, including Sunday against his former team.

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BC (20-4-1, 12-3-1) and BU (15-9-1, 10-5-1) again just have one game this weekend on Friday night ahead of their matchup for the Beanpot championship on Monday, with the Eagles traveling to UNH and the Terriers at Merrimack. It opens up the possibility for Maine to continue to gain ground, but doing so will be a tall order, as the Black Bears will hit the road for a pair of games at Providence (16-6-4, 6-5-4).

The Friars snapped a five-game winless streak with an impressive 6-3 over UConn in Hartford in front of 11,781 fans, a program record for the Huskies. Providence moved up to seventh in the PairWise.

“I think they’re more skilled than they’ve been the last couple of years,” said Barr. “Not only are they going to hit you and finish every check and always be above the puck, they’re going to make plays. It’s as good of a team as we’ll play, so it’s going to be a really tough test.”

Weekend plans

UConn (14-9-3, 7-7-3) dipped to sixth in the PairWise after the loss, and will host UMass (14-11-2, 5-8-2) on Friday in Storrs, and UMass Lowell (14-8-3, 7-6-2) on Saturday in Hartford.

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In ECAC action, Harvard (7-12-2, 6-7-2) will take on Dartmouth (11-9-2, 8-6-1) on Friday night ahead of facing Northeastern in the consolation game of the Beanpot Monday. The Huskies are off this weekend

In Atlantic Hockey America, Bentley (14-12-2, 12-7-1) will host Robert Morris for two games, while Holy Cross (15-11-2, 14-4-2) travels to RIT.

In what amounts to a three-team race with three weekends left, the Crusaders are in second place, 5 points behind Sacred Heart and 1 point ahead of Bentley. But Holy Cross and the Falcons have six games remaining, while Sacred Heart, which is at Army for a pair of games this weekend, has just four.

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