It has been a week of introspection for the Massachusetts hockey team.

After surrendering two games to No. 1 Boston College by scores of 5-2 and 6-1 last weekend, the No. 14 Minutemen (16-8-5, 12-6-2 Hockey East) have spent much of the past few days looking at tape and practicing some of the game situations they saw during their home-and-home series with the Eagles.

They’ll get a shot at redemption tonight, when they open up a home-and-home set with Boston University (8-14-6, 4-12-2 Hockey East) at Walter Brown Arena in Boston. Tomorrow night, they will welcome the Terriers to the Mullins Center for the final regular-season matchup between the two teams.

The Terriers are mired in eighth place in Hockey East, and are fighting for their playoff lives. Last-place Northeastern, who faces Merrimack tonight and New Hampshire on Sunday, is only a point behind.

For the first time in possibly forever, the Minutemen are favored heading into a game against BU, but they might not think so.

“I didn’t know we were the favorite, to tell you the truth,” junior forward Greg Mauldin said. “Standings-wise, I guess we are, but it’s a tough team, a team you wouldn’t want to see in the playoffs. After playing BC at the FleetCenter in the Beanpot, they’re obviously a good team. Standings don’t mean a thing, it’s just how we’ll be seeded in the playoffs.”

UMass has some unattended business as well. The Minutemen are in search of home-ice advantage in the Hockey East playoffs, the first time the program would host a playoff game since joining the conference in 1994. They could use some help from Maine, who hosts fifth-place Providence this weekend. The Friars have 17 points to the Minutemen’s 26, with five games left on their conference slate. UMass has four Hockey East games remaining.

As for the task at hand, they’ll face a Terrier team that’s been on the ropes for much of the season. Jack Parker’s crew has allowed the third-highest goals-per-game (2.93) in the conference this season, though that’s hardly the fault of standout netminder Sean Fields. The Beanpot Tournament MVP made 50 saves in the Terriers’ 2-1 overtime loss to BC in the final of the tournament. Fields became the first MVP in the Beanpot’s 52-year history to come from the loser of the championship game.

Fields doesn’t rank near the top of any major statistical categories in Hockey East, but does face an average of 28 shots a night, and has turned in remarkable performances in the past, such as his work in the Beanpot final this year, or his 46-save job in the Hockey East final last year.

Last weekend, Umass faced a team that had locked up home-ice advantage, and had just been crowned No. 1 in the country. Tonight, they face a team that has to finish strong in order to hold on to the last playoff spot – hardly something anyone would have expected from the Terriers at the start of the season.

“I think you have to go right back at them, because you know they’re going to come out hard,” Mauldin said. “They have to do what it takes to get in the playoffs, with Northeastern right there. I think if we go right at them, and go hard, they might start questioning themselves and just collapse.

“I think if we lay back and give them an opening, they’re a team that can take it to us as much as any other team can take it to us.”

After getting drubbed 6-1 last Saturday by BC, UMass coach Don Cahoon vowed that his team wouldn’t forget the game. This week, he’s subjected his troops to plenty of reflection on last weekend. Usually, each forward line and defensive pair will break off to watch video of past games. This week, Cahoon has gotten the entire team together to watch tape, specifically focusing on each of the 11 goals the Eagles scored on them.

“We’ve got to decide if that was bottoming out, or if we’re going to let this thing linger a little bit longer,” said Cahoon, who may be making his final trip to Walter Brown Arena as a participant. The arena, which has served as the Terriers’ home since 1971, is being replaced by the state-of-the-art Harry Agganis arena, although the changeover isn’t expected to happen until the second half of next season.

“Hopefully, we go there with some energy and conviction. I just want to play well, I want to play well over the course of the weekend.”