University of Maine men's hockey senior captain Lynden Breen skates with the puck during an Oct. 1 practice in Orono. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Maine Trust for Local News sports columnist Travis Lazarczyk is a voter in the U.S. College Hockey Online men's poll. Each week, he'll share his top 20, as well as hit on a few items of interest in the sport.

Here's how my ballot looks this week:

Boston College Michigan State Minnesota Maine Western Michigan Providence Denver UConn Ohio State Michigan Arizona State Boston University Minnesota State UMass Quinnipiac Penn State Clarkson North Dakota Colorado College Omaha

Looking ahead for the Black Bears: The weekend sweep over Vermont ensured Maine will finish no worse than second in the Hockey East regular season standings. The Black Bears still have a shot at the overall No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs, but will need some help. With 48 points, Maine sits four points behind leader Boston College. The Black Bears play two games at UMass, while BC closes out the regular season Saturday afternoon against visiting Merrimack. To take first place, Maine has to sweep at UMass, with the Eagles losing to Merrimack. Ranked fourth in the PairWise, Maine is a lock for the NCAA tournament at this point. Now, the Black Bears are playing with an eye on one of the four top seeds at the NCAA regionals. Regardless, the Black Bears will be heading back to the tournament for a second straight season.

Hockey East continues to flex: Maine is one of five Hockey East teams that are locks for the NCAA tournament, along with Boston College (No. 1 in the PairWise), Providence (No. 6), Boston University (No. 7), and UConn (No. 8). UMass is 12th in the PairWise this week, a spot right on the bubble. We know at least a few teams ranked outside the top 16 in the PairWise are going to take spots in the NCAA tournament field, either by winning their conference tournament or making a late run to jump a few spots. Two conferences, the Atlantic Hockey Association and Central Collegiate Hockey Association, have no members ranked in the PairWise top 16, but each will get an automatic bid. UMass Lowell, ranked 15, likely needs to win the Hockey East tournament to avoid losing a spot to an automatic bid team. UMass is in a better situation, but can help its standing with at least a split with Maine this weekend.

Conference tournaments underway: The Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinals are set. The league plays a best-of-3 series for the quarterfinal round. No. 8 American International will face No. 1 Holy Cross, No. 7 Air Force plays at No. 2 Sacred Heart, No.6 Canisius is at No. 3 Bentley, while No. 5 Army goes to No. 4 Niagara. The Big Ten tournament also starts this weekend with three best-of-3 first round series: No. 6 Wisconsin at No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 2 Minnesota, and No. 5 Penn State at No. 4 Michigan. Top seed Michigan State earned a bye to the semifinals. The ECAC playoffs begin this weekend with four first-round games: No. 10 RPI at No. 7 Harvard, No. 9 Princeton at No. 8 Brown, No. 12 St. Lawrence at No. 5 Dartmouth, and No. 11 Yale at No. 6 Cornell. The CCHA first round best-of-3 matchups are as follows: No. 8 Lake Superior State at No. 1 Minnesota State, No. 5 Michigan Tech at No. 4 Bowling Green, No. 7 Bemidji State at No. 2 Augustana, and No. 6 Ferris State at No. 3 St. Thomas. Like Hockey East, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has one more weekend of regular season games.

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