ORONO - The University of Maine men's hockey team faces the No. 1 team in the country in Boston University. Enough said? Not quite. Consider this # while the Terriers are the No. 1 team in the country in both national polls, they're No. 2 in Hockey East, two points behind Northeastern, the No. 2 team in the USA Today/USA Hockey top 15 poll. (Northeastern is the No. 3 team in the country in the USCHO.com poll, behind BU and Notre Dame.)

It seems as if BU and Maine are going in different directions. Not necessarily up and down. BU has won its past eight games, while Maine is 2-5-1 in that same stretch (but has won two of the past three games, including Saturday's 1-0 win at No. 12 UNH).

Maine's got a different look tonight at the Alfond. The Black Bears will wear their dark blue uniforms, traditionally worn on the road, while BU will wear its white uniforms. So much for the candy canes.

Starting lineups

MAINE
Forward
Brian Flynn-Tanner House-Gustav Nyquist
Robby Dee-Chris Hahn-Spencer Abbott
Nick Payson-Will O'Neill-Lem Randall
Kyle Solomon-Brett Carriere-Jeff Marshall

Defense
Ryan Hegarty-Matt Duffy
Mike Banwell-Simon Danis-Pepin
Josh Van Dyk-Jeff Dimmen

Goalie
Dave Wilson
Scott Darling
Josh Seeley

BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Forward
Chris Higgins-Colin Wilson-Jason Lawrence
John McCarthy-Nick Bonino-Brandon Yip
Chris Connolly-Corey Trivino-Vinny Saponari
Zach Cohen-Luke Popko-Kevin Gilroy

Defense
Brian Strait-Matt Gilroy
Colby Cohen-Kevin Shattenkirk
David Warsofsky-Eric Gryba

Goalie
Kieran Millan
Adam Kraus
Grant Rollheiser

Of note: Carriere seems to have won the fourth-line center job. This will be the third consecutive game he's started at that spot, and he made his case for it last Saturday with a solid performance against UNH, contributing both offensively and defensively. Danis-Pepin continues to play despite being plagued by back problems. O'Neill is at forward for the fourth straight game, but is still pivotal on the point in Maine's power play.

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