Editor's note: ESPN.com's David Albright had total access to the UMass-Lowell hockey team as it traveled to and from a weekend series at Maine.

ORONO, Maine — With Friday night's win, Maine has extended its home-unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3), the last loss coming way back on Nov. 5 to then-No. 1 Boston College.

"A lot of good teams come up here and get kicked around," UMass-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald says. "That's a reality."

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What's working in the River Hawks' favor is they haven't lost two in row since a weekend sweep at the hands of Boston University in late November. And Maine hasn't swept a Hockey East weekend series all season.

But it's also Senior Night, and the Black Bears haven't lost their final regular season home game since 1998.

"Ain't no better night to ruin than senior night," junior goaltender John Yaros says.

Feb. 26 — 8:48 a.m.
Andrew Martin is the first player to arrive for breakfast. The fact that he's early and hovering around the empty buffet servers could be a good sign that the foggy feeling he had late last night following an elbow to the jaw is going away.

	Andrew Martin packs his gear before missing the first game in his UMass-Lowell career.

The bus driver shows up and asks, "What's going on today?"

"It's a day of victory," coach Blaise MacDonald replies.

He is about to suffer his first loss of the day.

MacDonald gathers the players around in a circle of chairs and goes over last night's game.

"We haven't lost many games in a long time and that's a credit to you," he says. "The reason we've had success is our attitude and our willingness. Last night was all about our unwillingness. We were outmuscled and outwilled. Do you think they work as hard as you? Do you think they're hungry? They're Maine, they already have everything.

"We were awfully tentative and way too easy to play against."

One contributing factor to Friday's problems is that Alfond Arena is the loudest building in the league. The seats are right on the top of the ice, standing room only crowds are the norm and there's nowhere for the noise to dissipate.

"It's easy to feel isolated on the ice because you can't hear," junior captain Danny O'Brien says. That means the River Hawks will have to make an extra effort in the on-ice communication department.

While MacDonald goes through specific negatives and positives from Friday's game, Martin alternates between rubbing his eyes and putting his head in his hands. It's not a good sign and trainer Artie Poitras is there to witness the whole thing.

Feb. 26 — 9:55 a.m.

Ride along with UMass-Lowell
Get on the bus for a total access trip with UMass-Lowell as the River Hawks travel to Maine for two games against the Black Bears. Part 1: Boys on the bus Part 2: Bumps in the Road Part 3: The lost weekend

Poitras delivers the news to the coaching staff that Martin won't play tonight. In the previous 107 games, the only constant to the UML lineup has been left wing Andrew Martin. He has yet to miss a game in his River Hawk career but that ironman streak will end this Saturday night in Maine.

"Do we call someone and see if they can get up here?" MacDonald asks the other coaches. They quickly decide that's not a good option and begin going over the other possible line combinations. Those will now include freshman defenseman Kelly Sullivan, the only extra skater on the trip.

The game is on local TV and that means four 60-second commercial breaks will be built into each period. That's good news because it will slow down the game and allow for some double-shifting of key forwards.

MacDonald and the staff come up with three plans. The first one moves Sullivan into the lineup as the fourth left wing and juggles the other three left-wingers to make up for Martin's absence. The second one has fourth-line center Chris Fontas moving to left wing and double-shifting some combination of the other three centers. And the third one has Jeremy Hall double-shifting as the second- and fourth-line left wing.

The coaches talk about using all three options and discuss what might work best, although this clearly wasn't in the plans when the River Hawks left Lowell two days ago.

Feb. 26 — 12:28 p.m.
The ice at the Alfond isn't available for a game-day skate — another aggravation for the coaches — and although it's cold enough to freeze a flooded hotel parking lot, that's not an option. So, MacDonald comes up with an unconventional activity to get the players out of the hotel and break up the monotony of the game-day wait.

It's stickball in an office parking lot across the street from the hotel. The coach has a broken hockey stick shaft and a couple of cans of tennis balls for the makeshift game. The teams are made up of goalies, defensemen and junior left wing Brian Bova versus the rest of the forwards. Five swings. No taking pitches. Any ball caught on a fly is an out. Any ball that lands in the snowy field next to the parking lot is a home run.

Bova hits the first home run on the third swing of the game. His team goes on to a 3-1 win. Junior right wing Mark Pandolfo has the best home run, a towering blast that eludes the many outfielders. And Fontas has the best catch, a full-out dive into the snowy field.

The game lasts less than 30 minutes but it's a good break from rehashing Friday's loss.

Feb. 26 — 1:45 p.m.

	With Martin out, assistant coach Kenny Rausch goes over adjustments in the power play plan.

MacDonald comes back from his daily run and finds several players killing time in the lobby. Some are relaxing on couches and others are checking e-mail on the hotel computer.

"You're playing on the red line tonight," MacDonald says to sophomore left Todd Fletcher. That means Fletch is taking Martin's spot on the first line.

"Yeah, right," Fletch replies.

"I'm serious, Marty's out," MacDonald says.

That's the first official notice to the team that Martin won't go. MacDonald tells the rest of the team during the pregame meal and explains the three different plans the coaches will use to make up for Martin's absence.

Feb. 26 — 4:41 p.m.
MacDonald checks out of the hotel and puts his bags on the bus. The team assembles in Conference Room C one final time. Before the pregame meeting begins, Martin discusses his possible concussion. "Sometimes I feel good and sometimes I can feel the headaches coming on," Martin says. "Right now I'm all over the place."

MacDonald's message to the team is simple: the crowd, the noise and the building are all factors, but the River Hawks have had success in hostile environments and they need to revisit the challenges they've conquered.

"Don't think, just play," MacDonald says. "You need to be fast and loose and let's play harder than them. Bring some passion to a game you love."

Feb. 27 — 7:40 p.m.
The River Hawks are up 1-0 after one period thanks to a shorthanded goal by sophomore center Jason Tejchma. It's their first lead all weekend, but three penalty calls against the River Hawks help Maine to a 17-9 shot advantage.

The players leave the ice and head to the dressing room but it's locked, which causes a backup of players in the hallway and around the corner to the tunnel that leads out to the ice. The officials, referee John Gravallese and linesmen Joe Andrews and Kevin Shea, also use the same tunnel to get to their dressing room, and the backup of UML players leads to a chance meeting where the tunnel meets the hallway.

Elias Godoy, who spent two minutes in the box for interference, turns around and tells Gravallese, "They were falling all over the place."

"Elias, You had your hand on his back and you pulled him down," Gravallese says.

"Have you seen me with my shirt off, Grava?" Godoy says. "I'm a buck-60, there's no way I pulled him down."

At this point MacDonald steps in to take up the cause. "They don't skate at Maine because they fall down," he says in a calm but measured tone. "This is what makes your job so difficult because you let them do this."

Gravallese starts to reply but MacDonald does a 180 and heads for the now open dressing room.

Feb. 26 — 8:41 p.m.
A penalty-free period comes and goes for the River Hawks, but Maine is up 3-2 in part because UML commits the ultimate hockey sin. As if Friday night's allowed goal with 27 seconds left in a period wasn't bad enough, UML is careless during a last-minute power play and gives up a shorthanded goal at 19:59 of the second. It doesn't get any worse than this and MacDonald is fuming as he comes off the ice.

He heads straight for the coaches' dressing room and screams, "How can we be so [expletive] casual!" to no one in particular but so everyone hears him.

A lost weekend in Maine is down to 20 minutes of hockey, so MacDonald collects himself, heads into the players' room and tries his best to pick up the pieces.

"Be positive," MacDonald says. "We need more guys participating for the next 20 minutes. And don't for one second feel sorry for yourselves. Feel inspired and see if you can bail out some of your teammates.

"Guys, this is all about learning, this is all about picking yourself up. You've trained too hard, you've worked too hard not to be there. You know it's mind and spirit over body. Think of that shift Fontas had down low. Think of Matty Walsh digging like a bastard to keep it down low ... how hard those guys worked."

MacDonald hammers home his final points with added intensity. "One of the greatest gifts we have is emotion: anger, fear, excitement," he says. "How are you going to feel when you come in here boys? I think it's going to be a pretty damn good locker room. Let's get it done."

Feb. 26 — 9:32 p.m.

Maine 5, UMass-Lowell 3.

In addition to the team's loss, there's another casualty in the dressing room. Forward Chris Fontas has a separated left shoulder and is expected to be lost from the lineup for three to four weeks. Two games. Two losses. Two injuries.

MacDonald is quick and to the point with his postgame assessments.

	Coach Blaise MacDonald helps carry gear to the bus after Saturday's loss.

"Who in here is disappointed with the effort? ... Did you not leave it on the ice?" he asks. "If you work hard you'll get a lot of chances. But nothing comes before hard work. I can tell you right now that everyone associated with the hockey program is damn proud of how you competed. Damn proud. Because it's all about competing and believing. And that's something tremendous to build on. Now if we could capture that momentum for 60 minutes, we've got a club that nobody wants to play.

"As we've said it's a game of inches, it's also a game of one second. And you need to make the most of your seconds as well as the inches. We failed to do that, we gave them two gift goals and it comes back to haunt us. But we'll hopefully see this team again."

In less than 30 minutes, the River Hawks shower, dress, load their gear and the bus is now fighting its way through postgame traffic toward I-95. There are pizzas, subs, protein shakes, Powerade and plenty of ice bags for the ride home.

There's also a copy of the game tape, and MacDonald sits in the front row watching -- and in some cases re-watching -- what just took place.

Feb. 27 — 1:47 a.m.
The bus pulls up to the front of the Tsongas Arena and lets MacDonald out so he can bring his bags to his car in a nearby parking lot. From there it heads behind the arena to let everyone else off.

After the players unload and unpack the gear into their dressing room, MacDonald gathers the team for some final words.

"Hopefully we learned a lot from this weekend," he says. "It was almost like earlier in the year when we did enough good things to be in the game but certainly did enough things to beat ourselves.

"Overall a lot to build on ... Maine is a team that we've got a good chance to meet in the playoffs. I know we'll do a better job if we see them again."

If the Black Bears end up being UML's first-round opponent, the River Hawks have 11 days and another bus ride up north to figure out how to right this weekend's wrongs.

David Albright is a senior editor at ESPN.com and can be reached at david.albright@espn3.com.