The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team hasn’t played on home ice in almost three weeks since it’s 6-3 win over Northeastern back on Oct. 9 so getting back into action will be a welcomed sight as they face Providence College.

The Black Bears have a dismal 1-2-1 record overall, and despite it still being early in the season this hockey team has a critical weekend ahead of them. The Friars are off to a good start with a 2-1-1 record and with a strong conference wins against Boston University and Massachusetts, the Friars hold onto the third spot in the Hockey East standings.

Last weekend the Friars played the reigning national champions, Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, losing their first game, but managed to come back in the third period of their last game to earn a tie.

Friars’ goaltender Alex Beaudry has played every minute of the season so far, allowing 14 goals, posting a 3.43GAA, .881sv%, and a record of 2-1-1.

Providence Colleges’ offense is very spread out; they have four players tied for first on the team in points. The list consists of one senior and three freshmen, who each have a goal and three assists.

There are only two Friars with more than one goal, but there are 12 different players who have scored a goal so far this season.

The Black Bears also only have two players with more than one goal this season in Brian Flynn and Spencer Abbott. They only have seven players who have tallied a goal.

Only one player on the Friars who hasn’t earn a point, even Beaudry picked up an assist, but only 12 Black Bears have picked up a goal or an assist, leaving 10 Black Bears that have played at least one game without a point.

Despite the emergence of the high energy of the freshmen line with, Connor Leen, John Parker and Andrew Cerretani, they haven’t been able to get anything going as of late unlike the freshmen of the Friars, who have scored five goals total and each of the six have earned a point this season.

Fortunately, while Maine tries to reestablish their offense, they have two solid performers in net.

Martin Ouellette hasn’t picked up his first win of the season, but it’s only a matter of time before a few wins land in that column.

Ouellette has two wins over the Friars including a 5-0 shutout in Providence last season.

Dan Sullivan has never faced the Friars, but the sophomore remains unbeaten with a 1-0-1 record.

No matter which goaltender Maine coach Tim Whitehead decides to start Friday in the first match-up of the weekend, it will be a safe bet that the other goalie will start Saturday night.