LOWELL, Mass. - Kory Falite scored two goals as UMass-Lowell shut out Maine 6-0 Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Falite and Maury Edwards scored power-play goals for the River Hawks (17-15-2, 13-11-2 Hockey East). Falite gave UMass-Lowell a 1-0 lead 2:54 into the game on a power-play goal, and Mark Roebothan gave the River Hawks a 2-0 lead at 8:40. Roebothan was credited with the goal, which went in off a defender.

After Edwards' goal at 12:34 of the second, Jeremy Dehner, Michael Budd and Falite added third-period goals for UMass-Lowell.

Maine (12-20-4, 7-17-3) finished with 19 shots on UMass Lowell goalie Carter Hutton - but only 10 in the first and second periods - and the Black Bears' best scoring chance came 23 seconds in the second, when Brian Flynn's shot from the left circle hit the post.

Scott Darling made 15 saves in goal for Maine, which opens the Hockey East tournament on Friday at the top-seeded team in the league, either Northeastern or Boston University.

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Saturday's game concluded the regular season, Maine's second consecutive losing season and its worst season since 1985-1986, when the Black Bears went 11-28-1 and 8-25-1 in Hockey East, in Shawn Walsh's second year coaching in Orono.

In the past two seasons, the Black Bears are a combined 25-38-7 and 16-32-6 in Hockey East: 13-18-3/9-15-3 in 07-08 and 12-20-4/7-17-3 in 08-09.

Maine had a worse record than it did last season - when it didn't make the playoffs for the first time in 25 years - but somehow Maine got a playoff berth (largely on account of going 4-0-2 against ninth-place Providence and 10th-place Merrimack). But whom the Black Bears face remains to be seen - Boston University, the No. 1 team in the country, closes the regular season Sunday against Providence, while No. 4 Northeastern lost 4-1 to Boston College. Northeastern is the No. 1 team in Hockey East with 39 points, one point ahead of BU.

So it's certain. The season comes down to two more games for Maine. Maybe even three, as Hockey East's quarterfinals are a best-of-three series.

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Through two periods there was no pizzaz, no fire among the Black Bears. That translated to Maine's offense, which put only 10 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, including Brian Flynn's shot that hit the post early in the second. (If anyone's keeping count, that's three times the Black Bears hit the post this weekend.)

Maine put 34 shots on goal Friday night, including 14 in the first 10 minutes of the second period.

For the second consecutive night, Maine's penalty killing unit was sub-par. UMass-Lowell was 2 for 3 Saturday and finished the weekend 6 for 11 on the man-advantage.

"We didn't take many penalties and we couldn't keep them out of the net," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "Lowell converted on their chances and we didn't."

Also, the Black Bears played tentatively in the first period, as evidenced by its four shots on goal in the first, and its lack of physical play.

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Just a quick reminder - don't forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight.

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