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.

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