The Boston University men's ice hockey team, now halfway through its regular season, enters the final weekend of the fall semester with a visit to UMass Lowell for the opener of a home-and-home weekend on Friday (Dec. 8) at Tsongas Center. The game, which will be televised live by NESN, will start at 7:15 p.m.

This is the first time in 10 years (Dec. 7, 2007) that the Terriers and River Hawks are meeting with neither team in the national rankings. The teams will wrap up the weekend on Saturday (Dec. 9) at Agganis Arena for a contest beginning at 7 p.m.

The Terriers have alternated wins and losses over their past seven games, their longest such streak since one of the same length during the 1985-86 season. If BU wins on Friday, it will be the first time in program history that it has alternated wins and losses in eight consecutive contests.

BU is 73-29-9 (.698) in 111 all-time meetings with the River Hawks. Lowell, however, is 10-5-1 in the past 16 meetings and 11 of BU's 29 losses in the all-time series have occurred since the start of the 2011-12 season.

The teams split their regular-season series each of the past two seasons with the home team winning all four contests. The teams are an even 14-14-2 in the 30 meetings that have taken place at the Tsongas Center but the Terriers are just 1-6-0 in their past seven visits.

BU posted a 4-2 home win over the River Hawks on Jan. 28 of last seaoson before falling in Lowell, 3-2, on Feb. 10. Bobo Carpenter scored two goals in the win and added a shorthanded goal in the loss. 

UMass Lowell hasn't played since a 3-2 overtime loss to Bentley on Nov. 28. The River Hawks are currently fifth in the Hockey East standings with 10 points and are 4-5-0 at home and 4-2-0 on the road.

The River Hawks' top win thus far was a 3-1 road triumph over Clarkson back on Oct. 20.

Sophomore Ryan Lohin has team highs in points (14) and assists (9) and is one of three players sharing the lead in goals with five. Classmate Kenny Hausinger had added 12 points (5g, 7a) and senior defenseman Tyler Mueller has chipped in 10 (2g, 8a).   

Junior Christoffer Hernberg has taken over the primary netminding role for Lowell and was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for November. • He currently leads all Hockey East goaltenders in both goals-against average (1.64) and save percentage (.939), which rank third and fifth nationally.

Despite giving up two goals just minutes after the opening faceoff, BU stormed back to post a 7-4 road win over Boston College last Friday evening at Conte Forum. The Terriers broke a 3-3 tie with three goals in span of under three minutes in the first half of the second period and never looked back. The Eagles were able to earn a weekend split, however, posting a 4-1 win at Agganis on Saturday.

Pre-tournament camp rosters for this year's World Juniors were announced this week and five Terriers were named, spanning three countries. Sophomores Jake Oettinger and Patrick Harper, who won gold last season, were joined by freshman Brady Tkachuk on the USA Hockey roster as the Americans attempt to defended their title. Sophomore Dante Fabbro, who earned silver at last year's World Juniors, is on Canada's roster and freshman Kasper Kotkansalo will be at Finland's camp.

After his career-best performance in a road win over archrival Boston College, sophomore Patrick Harper was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday. He recorded four assists in the 7-4 win on Dec. 1, which put him in the Hockey East scoring lead at night's end. Harper is second among Hockey East players in points (19) and first in assists (13). He has 11 points (2g, 9a) over his past nine games. 

Freshman Brady Tkachuk is tied for second among Hockey East players in plus-minus (+9) and has a team-high 63 shots. Amongst NCAA freshmen, Tkachuk's shot total ranks first and his rating is tied for third.

BU's power play has scored on five of its past 15 chances despite going 0-for-6 in its most recent game on Dec. 2.