In a scheduling quirk, the Black Bears and Minutemen will face off in non-conference play. But for a developing team such as UMass, it’s an important weekend and a chance to continue to improve on its performance from earlier this season.

The Minutemen (5-14, 1-8 HE) already faced Maine this season when they traveled to Orono, Maine. UMass built up a 2-0 lead through two periods against the Black Bears, but Maine scored three times in the third period to rally for a 3-2 win.

“It was a different time of year for us in our development,” UMass coach John Micheletto said. “We learned two different lessons about being ready to play and finishing games.”

Since then, the Minutemen have made strides offensively.

The loss against Maine was a turning point for sophomore forward Frank Vatrano. He scored his first goal of the season in the defeat, and has caught fire since. Vatrano has scored 12 goals in the last 13 games, tying him for the Hockey East lead with Boston University forward Danny O’Regan and placing him sixth in the entire country in goals scored.

As a result, national attention has poured in.

In December, Vatrano was named Hockey East Player of the Month and earlier this week he was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given to the best Division I hockey player in the country. With a powerful and accurate wrist shot and good awareness in the offensive zone, Vatrano has paced the Minutemen with 17 points, the team lead.

“He’s a guy that can finish plays for us and he’s really good at doing it,” Micheletto said. “What’s been lost (in the attention to his offense) is he’s become a much better two-way player, killing some penalties for us, and doing other things he wasn’t apt to do before.”

Vatrano will be counted on this weekend, as will freshman defenseman Brendan Montour, who recently arrived to the Minutemen from the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL after missing the first half of the season awaiting clearance from the NCAA. He’s already skating on the top defensive pairing with Oleg Yevenko

The 6-foot, 190-pound Ontario native has produced four points in as many games, including one goal.

“He’s a dynamic skater, and it sure is nice to have him in a Massachusetts uniform,” Micheletto said.

Much like UMass, Maine (6-13-1, 2-6 HE) boasts a talented team but has struggled playing in Hockey East, one of the deepest conferences in the nation. The Black Bears are led by a group of NHL-drafted players. Forwards Blaine Byron, Devin Shore and Nolan Vesey rank first, third and fifth on the team in points, respectively, and defenseman Ben Hutton is tied for third on the team with seven assists.

Maine will enter the weekend on a two-game winning streak after sweeping Canisius last. UMass dropped its last game against Connecticut 4-3.

Puck drop is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at Mullins Center, and again on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the regular season finale between the two squads.

Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossGien.