The University of Maine has filed a lawsuit for a restraining order against Hockey East in Bangor Superior Court Monday. The Court is expected to rule on the suit within 48 hours. Friday, Hockey East athletic directors voted 5-2-1 to bar the UMaine Black Bears hockey team from playing the league's post season tournament. The move came after senior Patrice Tardif, a graduate student, was found to be ineligible by UMaine NCAA compliance officer Linwood Carville. Tardif had been mistakenly told by Carville earlier in the season that graduate students need only six credit hours a semester when, in fact, the NCAA requires graduate student athletes to take at least eight credit hours. Tardif was reinstated by the NCAA last week after he re-enrolled in a course he dropped in late January.The NCAA also had Maine forfeit 21 games Tardif played in while ineligible. Schools that voted in favor of barring Maine from the league playoffs were: Boston University, Northeastern University, Merrimack College, Boston College and University of New Hampshire. Maine and Providence College dissented, with UMass-Lowell abstaining. According to HE rules, all teams in the league are eligible for the playoffs. Ryan Robbins Stodder Hall University of Maine [log in to unmask]