Earlier this afternoon, Vermont Coach Kevin Sneddon was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. After a 3-2 overtime win Tuesday at Massachusetts, the Catamounts arrived in Burlington at 2 this morning.

Vermont, ranked No. 13 in this week's USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey polls, practices today in preparation for Saturday's game against Maine at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington. The Catamounts are unbeaten in seven of their last eight games and have won the past four games, including a weekend sweep of Boston University at Agganis Arena.

"I think we have some confidence, especially after last night," Sneddon said this afternoon. "We didn't play well early and we looked like might have been a little tired, emotionally and physically, but we played well in the second half and we found a way to win. I think our team is playing with confidence but it's such a fine line. We try to put away wins or losses really quickly and focus on our next opponent."

Sneddon believes resiliency is key for the Catamounts. Vermont trailed Massachusetts by a goal Tuesday night before winning in overtime, and scored third-period goals to defeat BU 4-3 in both games.

Sound familiar? Last weekend against Merrimack, the Black Bears trailed by a goal before winning 2-1 Friday and tying the game 1-1 on a late goal on Saturday.

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Vermont practices today and will take Thanksgiving Day off, then practice Friday. Sneddon said his team is healthy going into Saturday's game against Maine.

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In the second of three games involving Hockey East teams on Tuesday, Merrimack Coach Mark Dennehy didn't mince words after a 3-1 loss to UMass-Lowell.

"That is the most disgusted and most disappointed I've ever been in a Merrimack hockey team since I've been here," Dennehy told the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune. "We had a team here my second year that scored 37 goals in 34 games but we were in every game because we played hard. We had guys who blocked shots and gave it up for each other."

Dennehy is in his fourth year of coaching at Merrimack.

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FYI - "From the Point" will go on hiatus for the next few days. Happy Thanksgiving!

When the Maine hockey team travels to Burlington, Vt., on Saturday to face Vermont, the Black Bears will start a five-week stretch in which they will play six of their next eight games on the road, including the Florida College Classic tournament in Estero, Fla., during the final week of December.

Now, throw in final exams, Christmas shopping and holiday plans into the fold with games, practices, meetings and training sessions.

"It makes it difficult but we feel pretty comfortable on the road," Maine captain Jeff Marshall said. "It gives a chance to kind of get away from things, to get away from school and not really have to worry about homework and other things. You just focus on being with the guys and getting the job done on the road. Hockey's about the only thing you have to worry about, so you're able to focus in a little better on the road."

Maine has only gone out of town twice so far this weekend, opening the season by splitting two games in Alaska and sweeping a two-game series at Providence two weekends ago.

"We had a great weekend at Providence but that's just one weekend," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "There are tougher challenges to sustain that over a period of time. If we stay healthy we can compete with anybody."

Here's what Maine's schedule will look like during the next five weeks:

Nov. 29: at Vermont
Dec. 5: at Northeastern
Dec. 7: at Merrimack
Dec. 12: vs. Union
Dec. 13: vs. Union
Dec. 27: Florida College Classic, vs. Colgate
Dec. 28: Florida College Classic, either vs. Cornell or St. Cloud State.
Jan. 2: vs. USA U-18 team, at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland

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Before Vermont faces Maine on Saturday, the Catamounts play at Massachusetts in a rare weeknight Hockey East game, one of three tonight involving league teams.

UMass-Lowell plays at Merrimack while Boston University hosts Holy Cross in a nonconference game at Agganis Arena.

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Peter Souris, Hockey East's media relations director, said today that the league will not take any disciplinary action against the four players from Maine and Merrimack who were penalized for an on-ice scuffle at the end of Saturday's 1-1 tie. Maine's Tanner House and Will O'Neill and Merrimack's Joe Loprieno and Adam Ross each were penalized two minutes for roughing at the end of overtime.

Souris also said that linesman Greg Dumais suffered an injury to his left knee during Saturday's game, but Souris did not know the length of time Dumais will miss because of the injury.

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As of this afternoon, Maine defenseman Jeff Dimmen is questionable for Saturday's game at Vermont, suffering a back injury after he was crosschecked from behind Saturday against Merrimack.

The Maine hockey team still hasn't cracked the national polls so far this season - in this week's
USCHO.com/College Sports Division I top 20 poll, the Black Bears got 30 votes, behind Harvard (40 votes) and UMass-Lowell (39 votes), in theory making Maine No. 23 in the poll.

Maine, however, did not receive any votes in this week's USA Today/USA Hockey top 15 poll.

In a third poll, InsideCollegeHockey.com's weekly top 20 power rankings, the INCH staff dubbed Maine a "bubble" team, along with Harvard, Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage.

I spoke with INCH editor Joe Gladziszewski earlier this afternoon about Maine's spot in, or just on the periphery, of the weekly polls. Maine, he explained, has done enough so far this season to merit national consideration in the polls but not enough to crack USA Today's top 15 or USCHO.com's top 20 just yet.

"With Maine, seven games unbeaten is impressive," Gladziszewski said. "But from a strength-of-schedule side of things, if Maine had gotten a point from Northeastern or at Anchorage, maybe that puts them on the next level."

Gladziszewski explained that in putting together the weekly power rankings, there's a criteria that takes into consideration a team's wins, its strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and a team's consistency. Also, the INCH staff considers everything else that's going on in college hockey, a sort of chaos theory - what happens to one team in one part of the conference or the country will somehow affect another team's standing. (Does that make sense?)

But the bottom line to entering the national polls?

"Wins," Gladziszewski said. "If Maine can get one in the next two games against Vermont or Northeastern, it could propel them. I think it would put them in the rankings."

If Maine loses both, the bubble could burst.

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Maine's opponent this Saturday did something that no other team has done in 18 years. Vermont swept a back-to-back series from Boston University on BU's home ice. Maine was the last visiting team to take a weekend series from BU, defeating the Terriers 4-3 and 6-3 on Nov. 20-21, 1992 at Walter Brown Arena.

Vermont (7-3-2, 4-3-1 Hockey East) travels to Massachusetts for a rare mid-week game at 7 p.m. Tuesday before facing Maine on Saturday at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington.

Maine, UMass and Vermont are currently tied for third place in this week's Hockey East standings.