Brian Tedder

The Massachusetts hockey team tries again to earn its first win of 2008 tonight at Matthews Arena in Boston, where the Minutemen take on Northeastern.

The game is the first meeting between No. 15 UMass (9-8-6, 4-7-5 Hockey East) and the 13th-ranked Huskies (11-8-3, 8-7-2 HEA) this season.

Last year UMass swept the season series by a combined 9-4 score, but the 2007-08 Huskies are a much improved team.

Northeastern has nearly reached its 2006-07 wins total (13) and conference wins (nine) and held the top spot in Hockey East for several weeks earlier in the season.

Sophomore goaltender Brad Thiessen returns after a stellar freshman season and has once again been reliable in net for the Huskies.

However, it’s been some increased firepower that has Northeastern relevant in postseason discussions this year.

“They have more weapons, and they’ve found ways to score goals with more people,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said. “But their goaltender Thiessen is one of the premier goaltenders in our league.”

Both teams have struggled since returning from the break, especially the Minutemen, who after winning the Lightning College Hockey Classic have lost five straight and are 0-5-1 in their last six.

The Huskies are 2-4-1 since the break and have lost their last three, including a home-and-home sweep at the hands of Providence.

UMass seemed to have shaken out of its funk in its last game, a 2-2 tie at home against Vermont. After losing 5-4 to the Catamounts last Friday, the Minutemen played a much better game (though so did UVM) Saturday.

The Minutemen scored both their goals less than a minute apart during a two-man advantage. Defenseman Mike Kostka and Martin Nolet scored nearly identical goals to take a 2-1 lead in the first.

Vermont tied it in the second and neither team could close in on a win, but Cahoon and his players took a lot of positives from the game, particularly the improvement on the power play.

“I know we played better [on Saturday],” Cahoon said. “We have game objectives and it’s not often that we hit 11 of our 14 objectives at home and not win. It was just a simple matter of finishing a few plays that was the difference between winning and not winning.”

UMass went 2-for-4 on the power play Saturday after going 0-for-4 in a nine-goal game the previous night. The team’s recent slide effectively began when the Minutemen failed to capitalize on a third period 5-on-3 situation at home against New Hampshire.

UMass went ahead 2-0 early in the game but fell 3-2 despite having ample chances to even the score.

The two power-play goals in their most recent game may have marked the end to the Minutemen’s losing streak, but a very physical Huskies team stands in their way.

“They play a very physical style,” Cahoon said. “They’re committed to playing really hard. They sprint everywhere and battle for every puck.”

The size of the rink seems to always play a role in Hockey East games, especially for a team like UMass, which plays on one of the largest sheets in the conference at the Mullins Center (200 by 95 feet).

The ancient Matthews Arena, which holds about 5,900 spectators, at 200 by 90 feet, is not as small as Merrimack’s Volpe Athletic Center (200 by 85), but the atmosphere is certainly a different one.

The bleachers sit right on top of the ice, and the arena is very loud for such a small space, especially compared to the cavernous Mullins Center.

UMass plays two more games against Northeastern, a home-and-home series two weeks from now on Feb. 15 and 16.

Jeremy Rice can be reached at [email protected].