BOSTON - Maine is about a half hour away from its first postseason appearance since the spring of 2007, but the Black Bears ended the regular season on a downward slide … and their reward was drawing Boston University, the No. 1 team in the country and the No. 1 seed in the Hockey East playoffs.

Consider that BU is the No. 1 team in the country and the No. 1 team in the PairWise rankings, the RPI and the KRACH rankings, all considered mathematical indicators for who goes where in the NCAA Tournament. You'd think BU would want to take it easy, but the general consensus is that the Terriers want to play hockey for the next two weekends. That's a sign of a quality hockey team, kids.

Starting lineups
MAINE
Brian Flynn-Tanner House-Gustav Nyquist
Robby Dee-Chris Hahn-Kevin Swallow
Theo Andersson-Keif Orsini-Spencer Abbott
Nick Payson-Brett Carriere-David de Kastrozza

Defense
Will O'Neill-Jeff Dimmen
Josh Van Dyk-Matt Duffy
Mike Banwell-Simon Danis-Pepin
Goalies
Scott Darling
Josh Seeley

BOSTON U.
Forwards
Chris Higgins-Colin Wilson-Jason Lawrence
John McCarthy-Nick Bonino-Brandon Yip
Chris Connolly-Corey Trivino-Vinny Saponari
Zach Cohen-Luke Popko-Joe Pereira

Defense
Steve Smolinsky-Matt Gilroy
Colby Cohen-Kevin Shattenkirk
David Warsofsky-Eric Gryba

Goalies
Kieran Millan
Adam Kraus
Grant Rollheiser

Scratches for Maine: Forward - Jeff Marshall, Glenn Belmore, Kyle Solomon, Lem Randall; defense - Ryan Hegarty (fractured vertebra); goalie - Dave Wilson (groin pull

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