Acting Hockey East commissioner Bob DeGregorio said Monday the league's athletic directors, sans Maine, will meet today to decide whether to push forward in the University of Maine's lawsuit against the league. The league was taken to court by UMaine March 7 after the league's athletic directors voted 5-2-1 to ban UMaine from the league playoffs. A Bangor Superior Court justice granted UMaine a temporary restraining order against the league, allowing the defending league and national champion Black Bears to play Boston University on the quarterfinal round. BU eliminated UMaine two games to none in the best of three series. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for March 24 in Bangor Superior Court. Last week Hockey East attorney Philip Burling said a UMaine loss in the quarterfinal would render the lawsuit moot. However, DeGregorio told the Bangor Daily News Monday it is his "gut feeling" the league wants to go through with the lawsuit to prove it has the right to ban its teams from theleague playoffs for breaching the league's code of ethics. "Believe me, we love Maine, but we were trying to take a step to help them," DeGregorio said. UMaine spokesman John Diamond declined to comment until he meets with Bangor attorney Paul Chaiken, who is representing the school. Chaiken was out of town Monday. In granting UMaine a temporary restraining order last week, Superior Court Justice RobertL. Brown questioned whether HE had authority to discipline UMaine as it did under its bylaws. DeGregorio said there has been talk among the league's ADs about expelling UMaine from the league, but that is not what a majority of the league's members want. Ryan Robbins Stodder Hall University of Maine [log in to unmask]