AMHERST

Forget about the NCAA Hockey Tournament.

A month ago it seemed like a likely eventuality. But it's all but gone now for the University of Massachusetts hockey team.

The Minutemen head into tonight's game at Boston College still fighting for a spot in a tournament, but it's the Hockey East Tournament. The Minutemen have gone from chasing a dream to fighting for their lives. While UMass (16-15, 11-13 Hockey East) is tied for sixth in the conference with 22 points, a spot in the eight-team field is far from assured. The Minutemen have three games remaining and none will be easy.

Tonight at 7 at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, they will face the seventh-ranked Eagles (19-10-2, 14-8-2 Hockey East) who have beaten UMass twice this season by a combined score of 10-2.

The Minutemen head to Maine to take on the third-place Black Bears March 5 and 6. Orono is not where any team wants to be with its season on the line.

The teams chasing UMass are not far behind and have favorable schedules. Lowell shares sixth with 22 points, and the River Hawks have four games left to play.

Lowell plays last-place Providence tonight at home and Saturday at Schneider Arena before hosting ninth-place Vermont twice next weekend.

Merrimack is one point back of the Minutemen in eighth place thanks to last weekend's sweep. The Warriors host Maine twice this weekend before a home-and-home against last place Providence next weekend.

Vermont is two points behind UMass in ninth. The Catamounts also have four games left, two at home this weekend against Boston University and two at Lowell next weekend.

Because the Minutemen won the season series against both Vermont and Lowell, they have the tiebreaker against both teams should they finish tied.

But if the Catamounts get at least three points in its last four games, which is very possible, UMass better figure out how to salvage some success somewhere along the way.

Hindsight shows that maybe the Minutemen's current five-game losing streak is not as shocking as it has seemed. After its annual strong first half of the season, UMass looked like it was in trouble when it took back-to-back beatings from Boston University and New Hampshire on Jan. 2 and 9.

But the dike seemed plugged when the Minutemen came back with four straight wins over Northeastern, Lowell (twice) and Vermont. At the time the River Hawks were ranked No. 15 and the Catamounts No. 17, making those wins seem more impressive than they were and maybe making UMass more comfortable than it should have been.

None of that explains why the offense has sputtered badly and goalie Paul Dainton has struggled throughout February.

At this point in the season, it's too late for coach Don "Toot" Cahoon to try to totally reshuffle his roster. He'll have to hope that something clicks and the Minutemen hit their stride again and avoid what's shaping up to be the most disappointing finish in program history.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.