Boston University is the clear favorite and may win their third HockeyEast Championship in four years. However, there will be some familiar foes looking to keep the Terriers from standing atop the league once again. Clearly, the most troublesome foe for BU this year will be missing ... namely the Maine Black Bears which swept the Terriers all three games, which were three of their four league losses. However, BU is 6-1-3 against the teams remaining in the tournament. h2h BU UNH UML BC Overall BU -- 3-0-0 1-1-1 2-0-2 6-1-3 UNH 0-3-0 - 2-1-0 3-0-0 5-4-0 UML 1-1-1 1-2-0 - 2-1-0 4-4-1 BC 0-2-2 0-3-0 1-2-0 - 1-7-2 BU has some definite talent in the likes of seasoned scorers Chris Drury, Sean Bates and Mike Sylvia. They also have two of the most skilled freshmen in the league in defenseman Tom Poti and forward Dan Lacouture. Hobey Baker candidate Drury leads the nation in goals. A little quiet last weekend, as well as lately, Drury needs to score in order for BU to stand a good chance. Speedster Bates is one of the fastest skaters in the league and is often seen breaking in alone on goalies. However, his scoring touch is lacking and its not seldom that you see him stoned on breakaways or misfiring on great opportunities as the puck sails high or wide. Still, breaking down the side and firing a low slapshot is Bates hardest shot to stop and he's always a threat. Sylvia has to be one of the flashiest skaters around. His cuts and dekes are so damn pretty that he'd clearly lead the nation if points were awarded as such. No one in HockeyEast can reverse direction with such speed other than Northeastern defenseman Schuwerk on a good night. BU blueliner Tom Poti is a huge big-play force. If this is only the beginning of what we'll see out of this kid, HockeyEast can concede now that Poti will be the league's "Bobby Orr" for the next few years. This kid makes few mistakes in his defensive end and has great offensive instincts. Bates must be wishing he had a few more years of catching this blueliner's up-ice feeds to a lurking forward behind the opposition's defense. Helping Poti shore up the defense is goalie Tom Noble. Noble has been winning a lot of games over the last six years, the last two with BU. BU can count on Noble to be steady and should hold the fort nicely provided the defense doesn't break down. BU's second most formidable nemesis is also their semi-final opponent on Friday night ... namely the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks. Lowell has had BU's number during the regular season, going 3-2-1 in the last two seasons and 5-6-1 over the last four. However, BU has been able to solve the Riverhawks during post season play when BU has been 3-0 .... meeting Lowell each of the last three years in Fleet/Garden action. Being the only team left to have beat BU this year, Lowell stands the best chance of knocking them off. Buffered by a freshman class that has clearly made a difference, Lowell has a slight edge in depth and could make use of this on Friday. This was clearly obvious last month during the rubber game of the series when Lowell continuously came back to tie the game after BU took several leads on their home ice. Lowell has shown some great defensive efforts but also has shown some serious defensive lapses. Starting goaltender Martin Fillion has never really looked suspect but has had games where he could've used some noxema for the redness on the back of his neck. Look for Fillion to make the real difference in this game. Lowell tried a lot of things during February ... and they all failed miserably. Providence ran into a sleeping giant last weekend and an awakened Riverhawk crew will likely show up at the Fleet. One of the sore spots last month was the lack of scoring form the previously dependable first line. Lowell has had some great freshman contributions, but the mainstay all year was the power of Neil Donovan, Marc Salsman and Doug Nolan. Nearly absent for a month, this line scored often last weekend, combining for nine points. Still missing is scoring sensation Ryan Sandholm and Lowell will surely be hoping he breaks out on Friday. Leading the freshman crew have been Greg Koehler as well as Chris Bell and John Campbell. Koehler has shown he'll certainly be causing other HockeyEast coaches to shake their heads in regret for letting this kid get by. Koehler leads more highly touted rookies around the league and trails only Maine's Cory Larose in overall scoring. GP G A Pts Cory Larose, Maine 35 10-27-37 Greg Koehler, UML 35 15-20-35 Blake Bellefeuille, BC 32 15-19-34 Jeff Farkas, BC 33 12-22-34 Pisani, Providence 35 12-18-30 Look for Lowell to score fast, taking a 2 goal lead out of the first period. Lowell will take each period of this game and win it 7-3. BC upsets UNH ... report to follow. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.