Sometimes it just seems like no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.

The Massachusetts hockey team dropped a pair of games to Hockey East powerhouse Boston University this weekend, falling into a tie for eighth place in conference. UMass now holds a 2-28-0 mark all time against the Terriers, and have not won against them in Boston since 1920. The Terriers topped their hosts at the Mullins Center on Friday 5-2, then used a late comeback to thwart the Minutemen 3-2 on Sunday.

The weekend pushed the Maroon and White’s overall losing streak to four games and conference skid to six in a row going into the winter recess. UMass Head Coach Don Cahoon was beside himself following Sunday’s loss.

“If I understood what was going through the minds of my players, I’d be an absolute genius,” he said. “I’m trying to have some effect on what’s going through their minds. I’m going out of my friggin’ mind right now.”

Sunday’s game was typical of the UMass-BU history, as the Minutemen once again lost a one-goal heartbreaker in a game that they certainly could have won.

“This is more like the games we’ve played against UMass [than Friday’s game],” said BU Head Coach Jack Parker, who coached Cahoon when he played for the Terriers in the early 70s. “It’s amazing we’ve got the record against them we do, because we’ve had so many one-goal, close games.”

The Minutemen looked like they might fall behind early in the contest, while sitting shorthanded following Sami Jalkanen’s interference penalty at 5:49 of the first. But freshman Greg Mauldin used his blinding speed to skate around the defense on the left side and tally his second shorthanded goal of the season at 6:56 to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The good fortune continued 1:09 later, just after Jalkanen got out of the penalty box. Senior Darcy King grabbed a loose puck in the defensive zone and flipped it off the boards to a streaking Jalkanen, who put a backhander between the pads of sophomore Sean Fields to stymie the Terriers.

But then, it seemed, the ghosts of Walter Brown Arena returned to haunt the Maroon and White.

BU was the beneficiary of four power plays in the middle frame, and on the fourth, senior captain Chris Dyment notched his fifth goal of the year from the left point to move the hosts within one.

In the third, with the Minutemen clinging to a 2-1 lead, senior captain Toni S