The Boston University men's ice hockey team returns to Hockey East play this weekend with road contests against Merrimack (Jan. 17) and No. 5 Boston College (Jan. 18). Both contests start at 7 p.m. and Saturday's tilt with the Eagles will be televised on NESNplus.

The Terriers (7-7-5, 4-3-4 Hockey East) haven't played a league game in well over a month, dating back to Dec. 7 when they posted a 6-3 home win over Northeastern. Friday's match-up with the Warriors (5-14-2, 3-6-2 HE) starts a stretch of five straight Hockey East contests leading up to the Beanpot.

Saturday is the first of three scheduled contests with the Eagles (13-5-0, 7-3-0 HE), who host No. 13 UMass Lowell on Friday. The archrivals will meet in the first round of the Beanpot on Feb. 3 before facing off at Agganis Arena on Feb. 29.

BU and Merrimack have played 117 times since first meeting on Dec. 11, 1964, and the Terriers hold a commanding 89-20-8 (.795) advantage. BU is 28-12-5 (.678) in the 45 meetings that have taken place at Lawler Arena.

Merrimack is returning from a 10-day break in its schedule, having ended a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 road win over UConn back on Jan. 7. The Warriors had another win against the Huskies earlier in the year and its other three wins have come against New Hampshire, Rensselaer and Holy Cross.

The Warriors, who are 2-8-1 at home this season, are the second-most penalized team in Hockey East, averaging 13.1 penalty minutes per game, trailing only Boston College (13.6).

Senior Tyler Irvine leads the Warriors in both points (15) and goals (8) while sophomore Logan Drevitch (5g, 8a) and freshman d-man Declan Carlile (2g, 11a) have added 13 points apiece.

The Warriors have three freshman goaltenders with Jere Huhtamaa (.863, 3.40) and Troy Kobryn (.894, 3.13) splitting the majority of the time. 

BU won its series with the Warriors last season, bouncing back from a 4-0 loss in North Andover on Oct. 20 with 7-2 (Jan. 21) and 5-1 (March 2) home victories.  

In the opener, the Warriors scored twice in the first eight minutes of play before securing their first-ever shutout against the Terriers. In January, BU scored four special-teams goals (3 PP, 1 SH) en route to the 7-2 win. David Farrance had his first two-goal game as a Terrier while Patrick Harper had a goal and two assists. The finale was the Terriers' last home game of the season and defensemen Dante Fabbro (1g, 4a) and Chad Krys (2g, 3a) each had five-point nights in the 5-1 triumph.

BU had its three-game win streak snapped in a 5-4 setback at Dartmouth on Jan. 11 at Thompson Arena. The Terriers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with goals from Sam Stevens, Gabriel Chabot and Matthew Quercia before the Big Green rallied to draw even before the first intermission. Wilmer Skoog scored a lacrosse-style goal to give the visitors a 4-3 lead in the second but Dartmouth responded with two goals less than a minute apart later in the period to take a lead it would not relinquish.

Farrance and Harper were among the more than 75 nominees for the Hobey Baker Award, as announced on Thursday. Farrance ranks ninth (tops among defensemen) nationally in points per game at 1.32 and Harper is right behind in 10th at 1.29. 

The Terriers have scored 30 second-period goals this season, matching their total from the first and third periods combined. They will be looking to end an 0-for-19 skid on their power play.