Looking ahead to Boston College

ORONO —There isn't a lot of surprise that Hockey East is so evenly matched so far this season, so it might not be a coincidence that eight teams split all four Hockey East series this past weekend - Maine-Northeastern, Vermont-Boston College, New Hampshire-Massachusetts and Boston University-Merrimack.

Four points - or two wins, or four ties, or a win and two ties, however you dice it - separate first-place Massachusetts (eight points) from Northeastern and BU, tied for eighth place entering the weekend slate, which include's Maine's two games at home against Boston College.

"I had a feeling it would be extremely tight this season, with how the league's developed over the past couple years," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "But it's still so early, you can't tell what's going to happen."

But freshman forward Adam Shemansky takes a holistic look at parity in hockey.

"There's a lot of parity in almost every league, from the NHL on down," Shemansky said. "Whether teams build from their defense up or their offense back, parity's a big thing everywhere you go. The teams are very even and we know that we have to be prepared against every team we face."

While the Black Bears won their first road game of the season Friday at Northeastern, the disappointment of not closing out the second game on Saturday was palpable.

"We were disappointed we didn't sweep," said Whitehead, whose team lost 5-2 on Saturday. "We missed an opportunity in the third period to put the hammer down. It was great to see that we've improved, but we're not where we need to be."

Added junior defenseman Mike Banwell, "We learned our lesson Saturday. No matter if we win by 2-1 or by 6-2, we have to take themomentum into the next game and stay consistent."

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David deKastrozza, who missed last weekend's series at Northeastern with a head injury, has resumed practicing this week and will be available this weekend against Boston College. Mark Nemec, who suffered a broken thumb in the season-opening series at Union, also has been cleared for contact and has been practicing with the Black Bears since last week.