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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

ORONO - Keif Orsini scored with 5:46 left in the third period to help Maine salvage a 1-1 tie with Merrimack on Saturday at Alfond Arena.

Francois Ouimet scored for Merrimack at 14:07 of the second. Maine goalie Scott Darling made 22 saves, while Merrimack goalie Joe Cannata made 15 saves.

Maine had a season-low 16 shots on goal.

Maine (7-3-1, 4-2-1) will play at Vermont on Nov. 29.

***

Maine continues a two-game Hockey East series with Merrimack in about an hour and looks to extend its winning streak to seven. Maine's six-game winning streak is the longest since the start of the 2006-2007 season, when Maine opened the season with seven straight wins.

With last night's 2-1 win over Merrimack, Maine has catapulted from a three-way tie for fifth in Hockey East to a three-way tie for third with UMass-Lowell and Boston University.

Scratches for Maine for tonight:

Theo Andersson, freshman forward
Nick Payson, redshirt freshman forward
Mike Banwell, sophomore defenseman
Glenn Bellmore, sophomore forward
Kevin Swallow, junior forward
Mark Nemec, freshman defenseman

Brett Carriere scored the go-ahead goal at 9:43 of the first period and Dave Wilson made 19 saves to help the University of Maine hockey team defeat Merrimack 2-1 Friday at Alfond Arena.

Will O'Neill also scored for Maine (7-3, 4-2 Hockey East), which killed off a five-minute penalty to Jeff Dimmen and won its sixth straight. The series resumes at 7 p.m. Saturday.

***

Freshman goalie Scott Darling's getting a rare night off tonight, despite helping Maine win four of its past five games. The word from Laura Reed, assistant athletic director for public relations, is that Darling violated team rules earlier this week after missing a team workout and will serve a one-game suspension tonight. Darling was dressed for warmups and the national anthem and will be on the bench tonight.

Wilson's last start came Oct. 31. The junior from Caledon East, Ontario, made 33 saves in a 4-2 win over Niagara. In four games this season, Wilson is 1-2 and has a 3.35 goals-against average and a saves percentage of .890.

Wilson's backup will be freshman Josh Seeley of Bangor.

Also scratched from tonight's game against Merrimack are: freshman defenseman Ryan Hegarty, freshman forward Theo Andersson, sophomore forward Keif Orsini, sophomore forward Robby Dee and redshirt freshman forward Nick Payson.

ORONO - The earlier the wins, the better for the University of Maine hockey team. The Black Bears enter this weekend's series against Merrimack on a five-game winning streak, after last weekend's sweep of Providence.

Picking up as many points as possible is crucial for the Black Bears, if they want to reach the postseason. Last year, the Black Bears scrambled late in the season to remain in playoff contention but were eliminated on the last day of the regular season.

"This early in the season we can't afford to drop any games, because that can come back and kill us in the end," Maine senior forward Chris Hahn said. "Last year we put ourselves in a tough situation and I think our team was better than our record (13-18-3). We couldn't get the wins earlier, and it killed us at the end of the year."

Maine was 4-2 at the start of last season before going winless in six games last November, then going winless in eight games from Jan. 25 to Feb. 16.

***

Maine swept Providence over the weekend and faces Merrimack this weekend before travelling to Vermont next Saturday (Nov. 29).

While it would be easy to label this stretch of hockey, well, "easy," it's a deceiving stretch.

Looking at Hockey East's standings, right now six points separate No. 1 Boston College from No. 8 Vermont. Bringing up the rear is Merrimack (ninth, three points) and Providence (10th, one point) and in the middle is Maine, UMass-Lowell and New Hampshire, who are in a three-way tie for fifth with six points, entering this weekend.

"Anybody can beat anybody," Maine co-captain Jeff Marshall said. "This weekend, the scores were a little backwards after the last couple weekends. Teams we thought should be winning games weren't. You've got to be ready to play no matter who you're facing. It's such an even league that there really aren't any favorites."

Among those unusual scores Marshall referenced:
Massachusetts 5, Boston University 1
UMass-Lowell 8, New Hampshire 3
Boston College 5, Merrimack 5
Boston University 3, Northeastern 0

Maine freshman goalie Scott Darling was named Hockey East's Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week, the third Maine player to earn the conference's weekly honors.

Darling, who has started Maine's past three games, helped the Black Bears sweep Providence this weekend. Darling made 35 saves Friday in a 3-2 win over Friars, and made 24 saves Saturday in a 3-0 win.

***

Brian Dumoulin, a senior at Biddeford, will make his commitment to play hockey at Boston College official.

Dumoulin plans to sign a National Letter of Intent to join the Eagles at 3 p.m. Friday at Biddeford Ice Arena. Dumoulin, a defenseman, currently plays for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs and was a two-time Maine Sunday Telegram All-State selection.

The Hockey News recently featured Dumoulin as part of its "Hot List," a weekly compilation of potential NHL prospects.

The early signing period for National Letters of Intent began today, and while Maine Coach Tim Whitehead cannot speak publicly about Maine's recruits until they have all signed and returned NLIs to the school, he's pleased with the verbal commitments that have been made to Maine.

"The recruiting has changed a lot and we're doing things farther in advance," Whitehead said Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA's early signing period. "You've got to be prepared to lose players earlier (to the pros) and we've got players committed that we're excited about. I can't comment publicly on that, but we're excited about where our recruiting is at."

Whitehead said that NLIs went out this week, and he anticipates that the early signees could be announced next week.

The early signing period for hockey runs through Nov. 19, and the second signing period begins April 8, 2009.

Given the fact that six Hockey East teams - Boston University, New Hampshire, Boston College, Northeastern, Vermont and Massachusetts - are somewhere in this week's national polls, this year's version of Hockey East proves that yet again, competitiveness is a hallmark of the league.

"Teams that were rated to be down in the lower echelon are as good as anybody in this league, and the teams in the upper echelon of our league are as good as anybody in nation," Boston University Coach Jack Parker said during today's Hockey East teleconference. "I would have to say that from a historical point this is the best league that we've ever had from top to bottom - vis-a-vis ourselves and vis-a-vis the rest of the nation, as well."

Maine Coach Tim Whitehead believed that the Black Bears' 2-1 win over Boston College exhibited that overall competitiveness.

"That was a great aspect of that game for our conference, recognizing that we were a team that had no points in league play, going against one of the top teams in the country," Whitehead said. "For us to beat them 2-1 does show a lot of competitiveness for our league. But, that is nothing new for Hockey East. We have had that in our league for many years, and it is just a reminder that we still have that. It is an indication that it is going to be another great season for the league."

During a teleconference today, several coaches (including BC Coach Jerry York, UMass-Lowell Coach Blaise McDonald and Merrimack Coach Mark Dennehy) were in agreement that from one to 10, Hockey East is at its strongest.

"It doesn't matter if you're rated down in the pack a little bit in this league because anybody can beat anybody," Parker said. "I think what separates this league, for a long, long time, from every other league is the fact is that it's so strong from top to bottom. What makes it different this year is that everybody is strong compared to the other leagues. We're in a situation where people ask me 'do you like your team?' and I tell them that I like our team a lot, but the problem is I like every other team in our league, too."

Maine forward Brian Flynn is the second Black Bear to earn Hockey East honors in two weeks.

Flynn, a freshman from Lynnfield, Mass., was named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week a day after he scored the game-winning goal in Maine's 2-1 upset of Boston College. Flynn earned the honor a week after teammate Gustav Nyquist won the conference rookie of the week honors.

Boston University forward Colin Wilson was named CCM/RBK Player of the Week and Merrimack goalie Andrew Braithwaite was named Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the week.

Is Scott Darling the Maine hockey team's No. 1 goalie now? No one will say yay or nay, but Darling's 24-save performance in a 2-1 win Sunday over Boston College helped the freshman's cause.

Still, protocol for the Black Bears this season has been to rotate Darling and Dave Wilson.

"I wish we had two games," Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. "I thought both guys deserved the opportunity to play one game and Scott certainly made the most of it. He made some big stops and really had good control with his movement and with the puck. I was pleased."

Whitehead informed Darling over the weekend that he would start against the Eagles, the defending national champions and the No. 2 team in the nation in both major polls. Darling wasn't necessarily intimidated by the prospect in the hours leading up to the start, but reflected well upon the win.

"I've never played for a national championship, so this is the most exciting win for me, personally," Darling said.

While Darling only made five first-period saves, the freshman goalie made a critical stop on Eagles forward Brock Bradford, Hockey East's leading goal-scorer (seven goals in seven games), less than eight minutes into the game. Darling slid across the goal mouth and split to make a save on the senior forward's shot from the right circle.

"He made some very timely saves, and made a kick save on that one," Bradford said. "He played well for a young goaltender in this environment, so you've got to give him credit."

***

The Black Bears watched Boston College's 4-1 loss to Notre Dame on Friday, in which the Eagles went 0 for 8 on the power play. The Black Bears used it as a tutorial, especially when it came to special teams, and Boston College finished 0 for 6 on the power play against the Black Bears.

"They have one of the best power plays in the country and Notre Dame shut them down," Flynn said. "The coaches took some things from that game and we did a pretty good job of shutting them down."

***

Consider Boston College Coach Jerry York among those who are impressed by this year's Black Bears.

"Maine, this is certainly a better team than they had last year," the 14-year Eagles coach said. "It's November so you kind of have to wait and see how things develop but they're a lot tougher this year."

Brian Flynn scored with 1:34 left in the third period to help the University of Maine hockey team defeat No. 2 Boston College on Sunday at Alfond Arena.

Flynn swatted a rebound past BC goalie John Muse to break the tie. Maine goalie Scott Darling made 23 saves. Chris Hahn also scored for Maine (4-3-1, 1-2-0 Hockey East), which faces Providence at 7 p.m. Friday in Rhode Island.

Scott Darling will start this afternoon against Boston College, the defending national champion and the No. 2 team in the nation.

It's out of character for the Black Bears, given the two-man rotation the coaching staff has used in the first month of the season; this is Darling's second start in as many games, after making 29 saves in a 4-1 win over Niagara last Saturday. In three games this season, Darling has given up three goals, has a goals-against average of 1.01 and a saves percentage of .955.

If Maine is any bit at all intimidated by the prospect of playing the national champions this weekend, they're not showing it so far.

Facing Boston College on Sunday will, arguably, be the team's biggest test so far this season. The Eagles (5-1-0, 3-1-0 Hockey East) are ranked No. 2 in both national polls, are fourth in the country in power-play percentage (27.1, 13 for 48) and BC forward Brock Bradford leads Hockey East with six goals.

In the past 11 seasons, the Eagles have made eight Frozen Fours, have won six Hockey East tournament titles and four regular-season titles and, oh yeah, two national championships.

It's safe to say BC has a swagger.

Friday at Alfond Arena, the Black Bears discussed their approach to facing the Eagles.

"I don't think we want to prepare every different," senior forward Chris Hahn said. "It's going to be a tough task but we just want to focus on the things we've been focusing on and play well. Or it could be a long day.

"If we're going to make some noise in Hockey East this year, we're going to have to beat teams like the BCs, BUs, and UNHs."

Lem Randall, Hahn's linemate, believes the Black Bears' best bet is to stick to their systems.

"But we're going to go into this like we do every game," Randall said. "We're going to prepare ourselves the best we can. They're a new team from last year and we're a new team from last year."

The Hockey East Conference named Maine freshman Gustav Nyquist its Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week.

Nyquist, a forward from Malmo, Sweden, scored six points (one goal, five assists) in two games against Niagara over the weekend. Three of Nyquist's five assists came Saturday in a 4-1 win over the Purple Eagles.

Chris Hahn scored two goals and Scott Darling made 29 saves in goal as the University of Maine hockey team defeated Niagara 4-1 to complete a weekend sweep at Alfond Arena.

The Black Bears finished three for six on the power play, and stretched a 2-1 lead to 4-1 in the third period on goals by Hahn and Brian Flynn.

Maine (3-3-0) faces Boston College at 4 p.m. Nov. 9 at Alfond Arena in a Hockey East game.