After 65 minutes, nothing could be decided between the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire, as the Hockey East rivals danced to a 4-4 tie.

With the tie, UMaine will enter the Hockey East tournament as the No. 8 seed and face either Providence College, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell or Boston College.

Both UNH and UMaine had opportunities in the first period, but it was the Wildcats that were the only team able to capitalize, scoring with 4 minutes remaining in the period.

After obtaining the puck in the neutral zone, UNH freshman Maxim Gaudreault skated up the left side of the ice before finding senior center Scott Pavelski with a centering pass. Pavelski one-timed it past a sprawling Martin Ouellette.

Unlike the previous night when the second period saw a lull in the action, both UNH and UMaine turned up the offense in the middle period, combining for four goals in the period.

With 6 minutes left in the period, the Wildcats doubled their lead when Gaudreault beat Ouellette, giving UNH a 2-0 lead. Just over a minute later, UMaine senior forward Joey Diamond controlled the puck in the offensive zone before maneuvering to the point and firing a shot past sophomore goalie Casey DeSmith.

It took UNH just 30 seconds to regain the two-goal lead, as sophomore center Grayson Downing scored his 13th goal of the season, shutting down any potential momentum the Black Bears had.

UMaine was able to keep the game close going into the third period, with senior forward Adam Shemansky deflecting fellow senior Klas Leidermark’s shot past DeSmith.

It took 6 minutes into the third period before the Black Bears leveled the score, as Diamond connected for his third multi-goal game of the season. Less than 2 minutes later, UMaine took its first lead of the game as freshman forward Will Merchant scored his third goal of the season. After winning the faceoff, a crowd formed in front of DeSmith, partially obstructing his view of the puck, which snuck by him by way of Merchant.

On the ensuing face off, Leidermark was called for a hooking penalty, but the Black Bears managed to kill off the power play, preserving its slim lead.

UNH eventually evened the score, tying things up with less than 4 minutes remaining in regulation, as junior defender Eric Knodel slapped the puck past Ouellette for the power-play goal.

The Wildcats controlled most of the play in the extra time, but couldn’t find the net as the two teams skated to a 4-4 tie.

In a must-win set of games, the University of Maine men’s hockey team did its job in Durham Friday night, beating No. 4 University of New Hampshire 4-3. With the win, the Black Bears put themselves in great position to grab the eighth and final playoff spot for the Hockey East tournament.

With the win and a loss by the University of Massachusetts, the Black Bears clinched a spot in the Hockey East tournament.

“A lot of people counted us out all year and we can’t fault them,” said UMaine senior defender Mike Cornell. “We made it difficult for ourselves but we never lost faith. We’re happy to be in.”

The win at the Whittemore Center was the first for this group of seniors, as the Black Bears snapped a nine-game losing streak in Durham.

It was kind of several different types of games wrapped into one. It was exciting,” said UMaine head coach Tim Whitehead. “[UNH] did a great job coming back and making it tight at the end. It was hard fought.”

The Black Bears were led by senior center Kyle Beattie, who finished with two goals after missing most of February with concussion issues. It was the second time Beattie scored twice against UNH, doing it first in his sophomore season.

“It was great to see Kyle Beattie step up tonight,” Whitehead said. “I was very happy for him. It’s tough coming back after that long out.”

UMaine jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to a short-handed goal by freshman Steven Swavely. After gaining control of the puck from fellow freshman Devin Shore, Swavely beat UNH sophomore Casey DeSmith to break the deadlock midway through the period.

After the tripping penalty by UMaine junior Brice O’Connor, UNH matched penalties late in the first period, as UNH junior Justin Agosta went to the box for roughing 19 minutes into the first period.

While the score stayed the same in the second period, the action picked up a bit, as the Black Bears fired 11 shots on target in the period, including one by freshman forward Will Merchant that rattled the post but ultimately stayed out of the net.

The third period brought the game close for a few seconds before the Black Bears ripped it open. Beattie gave UMaine a 2-0 lead before UNH was able to get on the board. Midway through the period, junior Dalton Speelman cut UNH’s deficit in half, tipping in a shot by junior Kevin Goumas.

Just 23 seconds later, Cornell responded with his fourth goal of the season. Nineteen seconds after that, Beattie clinched the game with his second of the game and seventh of the season.

“That’s huge for a team,” Beattie said of the two quick goals. “That shows character. I think earlier in the year if they score that goal, we might grip our sticks a little bit tighter. At this point, we’re a little more comfortable.”

Whitehead agreed with Beattie, insinuating that the early-season version of the Black Bears may have responded differently.

“That was a key moment. With the goals being reviewed it gives you a little time to compose yourself,” Whitehead said. “The guys did most of the talking. Being able to respond with two quick goals after they scored — I think our team has come a long way.”

A goal by junior defender Eric Knoedel gave UNH its second goal and senior forward Austin Block made it interesting with a goal with 20 seconds left, but the Black Bears were able to hold on.

“When we made it 4-1 they went all offense,” said UMaine junior goalie Martin Ouellette. “It was a close call but the guys played great, they blocked so many shots tonight.”

Ouellette finished the game with 31 saves.

“Going into playoffs, you have to have goaltending,” Cornell said. “Marty is playing tremendous hockey right now.

Since Christmas, the Black Bears are 9-6-5 and have secured at least the No. 8 seed in the Hockey East tournament. A win and a loss by Vermont could move the Black Bears up to No. 7.

UNH and UMaine square off for the regular season finale tomorrow at 4 p.m. The game can be seen on NESN.

With the University of Maine’s Tobacco-Free Campus Initiative turning two years old in January, students on the University of Maine campus feel that they see less smoking around campus, but the program is not working.

One hundred students were asked by The Maine Campus on Thursday, whether they have seen more smoking on campus in the last year or two if they think the tobacco-free initiative is working; and whether the campus should be tobacco free.

Of the 100 students, 74 said they have seen less smoking, six have seen more and 20 didn’t know.

However, 45 out of the 100 students said the initiative isn’t working, 42 said it was and 13 didn’t know.

Dean of Students Robert Dana, who has been involved in all stages of this project, believes the initiative has worked.

“Any public-health campaign, you don’t expect a zero-sum result,” Dana said. “If you look where the smoking was, it’s no longer,” he continued.

However, while smoking near entrances of popular campus buildings and on the mall may have diminished, other areas across campus have cropped up as popular smoking hangouts.

“I’ve seen a lot of ‘designated’ smoking areas around campus,” said Krystal Mudgett, a second-year social work student. “There’s an area behind Barrows [Hall] and on the edge of the parking lots. I think it’s a big jump from smoking to nothing.”

Various spots across campus have been seen as highly populated smoking areas, including the side entrances to the Fogler Library, outside of Neville Hall and behind Shibles Hall. Dana said that when the project was first talked about, the idea of designated smoking areas was brought up, but it’s not a conversation that has been ongoing.

“People wanted that, thought it was a middle ground, but I’m not going to congregate the smokers,” Dana said. “Having smoking huts, I think it’s counter to what we’re trying to do. I feel bad for anyone who has to sneak their smoke or hide in a certain place, because that can’t feel good.”

The idea for the ban on tobacco was a progression, according to Dana, that had already been happening for decades.

“It used to be, you could smoke in the classroom, then that changed,” Dana said. “So then you could buy cigarettes in the bookstore and in the residences halls, but that changed. Then you couldn’t smoke in public places, and I think this is just a continuation of that approach.”

In addition to the two questions about the tobacco-free initiative, 100 students were asked whether UMaine should be tobacco free, with the majority of students believing it should. Fifty-nine of 100 students said yes to a tobacco-free campus, while 30 said no and 11 didn’t know. One student questioned, graduate student Eric Collins, said that the campus should be tobacco free as long as it’s for the right reasons, not just a public relations campaign. Dana stressed the project as a public-health initiative, using the university as a leading institute for public health.

“We thought what better place than a university to make a stand for the public health and to assure people who didn’t smoke that they didn’t have to be affected by it,” Dana said. “It was always [used] as a possible way for a smoker to get out of that conundrum, and I think it’s just that — a conundrum. As a drug researcher, I know that the best predictor of use is access and availability. From a public health perspective, if you reduce access, then you reduce the incidents and behavior.

“We thought the university as an entity, as a role model, as a trendsetter, we should really step up to the plate,” he continued.

According to Dana, the main intention of the initiative is to help the people who feel they need it. It was never in place to punish or police smokers.

“That’s all anyone ever wanted to know about this: how were we going to enforce it? You enforce it by the public good will,” Dana said. “You enforce it by people’s self-direction and people’s encouragement. We wanted to create an environment that wasn’t hostile to the smoker — that was never the intent — but one that was supportive. I think for many people it worked. We weren’t about to deploy a smoking police, per se, but we have a relatively few continuous smokers.”

A fourth-year student who didn’t want to be named said that she still smokes regularly, and only once had she been confronted about her cigarette.

“I had someone last year yell from the window of their car, ‘Smoke free!’”

Dana said a handful of people have been referred to judicial affairs, but he knows that the initiative wasn’t going to eliminate smoking completely.

“You’ll never get absolute, but people want it,” Dana said. “A lot of people you would ask, would say that if it’s not absolute then it’s not working. But there’s no entity that can control all behavior, nor would I want that.”

Dana said he could see a time soon where UMaine will be completely tobacco free.

“The smoking typography is changing,” he said. “Eighty percent of people don’t smoke and most are used to no-smoking environment. More and more people are coming here knowing UMaine is a tobacco free place.

“I would say smoking is remarkably absent here.”

It’s no secret that the lack of connection between the University of Maine and the surrounding town of Orono is unique.

Geographical issues are partly to blame — a river does cut directly through both entrances to UMaine — but surrounding development may have diminished some of the partnership the university and downtown Orono once had.

While a number of projects are already underway between Orono and local businesses, a collaborative effort between several Orono town officials and a UMaine preceptor has developed. Rob Glover, jointly appointed to the political science department the Honors College, and his policy studies class are working to find organic ways to build a better connection between town and campus. The study is called “Building a Better Orono Together: Cultivating Organic Community Connection with University and Orono Stakeholders.”

“In general we’re trying to get a cross section of community and university perceptions of the downtown area and what they like and don’t like about it,” Glover said. “Faculty, staff, students and we’re trying to bring in residents to answer the focus and the questions. It’s been a process of handling logistics and making the connections. I’ve tried to make it as student driven as possible.”

Glover and his students are currently working to collect data via a survey, concerning what Orono can add to make it more appealing for the university’s recruitment. The survey has been distributed to students, faculty and town residents.

“[Orono] really wants to focus on not necessarily what the town and university can do together to make it more of a college town, but what the town can do in those areas to make it a better college town, so that Orono is an asset that the university can advertise for students to come,” said fourth-year political science student Alexandria Jesiolowski.

The survey has only been operating for a couple of weeks, but Glover said the turnout has been good and informational, and several findings have been a little surprising, thus far.

“It’s been interesting, so far. There’s a pretty positive sense, in terms of community,” Glover said. “Even with the students — they’re not exactly dismissive, but very few people are going to stay here.

“I think one big thing [the town] has been focusing on is how can they create economic opportunities [for students] and cultural opportunities so that people can think about Orono as a place to live after they graduate,” he added.

In trying to help with that, Glover and a number of the students intend to conduct focus groups with faculty members, students and business owners to get a feel for what it would take for graduating students to invest in the Orono community.

“I’m interested in hearing from the business owners because I think a lot of the relationships students have with downtown is the bar scene, and you look downtown and it really reflects that,” said third-year sociology student Shannon Brenner. “It’s interesting to look at the physical makeup of downtown and what [business] opportunities can survive.”

While additional business development is a point of emphasis for the town of Orono, it’s not the study’s main purpose. What Glover hopes the survey will provide organic ways to help connect the UMaine community with its surrounding town community.

“It’s not so much what new, shiny business can go downtown, but do the people of Orono feel welcomed at the University,” Glover said. “On both sides, you do see a divide with the people who are just residents and don’t work with the university. To the extent that there is a divide, people are trying to bridge it.”

But the sociological divide between UMaine residents and non-UMaine residents is only one of the problems. Another isn’t as easily solved, as geographical structures aid to the separation.

“The physical separation is a huge part of it,” Glover said. “At [the University of New Hampshire], you have the college and Durham embedded into each other. Literally there’s a river you have to cross to get to our downtown.”

One UMaine-Orono partnership that helped resolve that issue was the addition of the Black Bear Express, the joint-cost public transportation system that brings students from downtown Orono to UMaine and vice versa.

“The shuttle has helped some, but we’re looking at ways, despite that physical separation, we can organically make connections between the people of the university and people of the community,” Brenner said.

As it is, the downtown area is still frequented consistently by UMaine community members, but it isn’t sufficient as a one-stop shopping destination for its surrounding residents.

“I think people value the ‘walkability’ of downtown,” Glover said. “I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘What’s here is a good start.’”

With a finite number of options in downtown Orono, residents sometimes need to head elsewhere to obtain essential goods. If the downtown area were to increase its offerings, Glover and his students believe it could go a long way.

“I think external development has been an issue, and I think Orono’s best chance is to capitalize on the fact it’s a college town and looking at ways we can make it special,” Brenner said.

While the data gathering stage is still in process — Glover said there had been about 370 replies as of Feb. 15 — he is pleased that the conversation is progressing, though he admits he wasn’t nearly the first one to instigate it.

“I’ve only been here a couple years, but I get the sense that the relationship between the university and the community has been a long discussion.”

In an attempt to increase the University of Maine’s international appeal the University of Maine System is currently negotiating a partnership with Study Group USA Higher Education LLC, an international organization that recruits college students looking for educational opportunities.

“In spring of 2012, the [UMS] board of trustees began the process by which they were looking at the concept with finding an international partner for the purpose of recruiting international students,” said UMaine Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron.

UMS sent out a public request for proposals before deciding to contract with Study Group, a program that works with over 40 colleges around the world and 200 education counselors who work in over 30 recruitment offices.

“Study Group works with education partners to help attract the highest calibre [sic] students from around the world,” its website reads. “We broaden the reach of our partner institutions, provide the highest quality preparation and help to secure the very best outcomes for students and our partners.”

The UMS cost remains to be determined through negotiations, but the money will come directly from tuition dollars the UMS receives from these international students. The figure will be a negotiated percentage of just the tuition costs, as all room-and-board and student fees outside of tuition will belong to the campus involved.

“This was a combination of reaching out in a larger way to a global arena, but also to the benefit of the campus community, certainly both on the diversity side as well as the financial side,” Waldron said.

When working with collegiate partners, Study Group sets up international study centers that help aid the incoming students’ transition into American lifestyle. Core classes are taught there and English support programs are offered as well. Both UMaine and the University of Southern Maine are expected to participate: a study center is expected at UMaine by the 2013 fall semester, and another is expected at USM by the spring semester of 2014.

“We’re running tight here, because students are making decisions now as to where they’re going, so we’re late in the market for the fall semester,” Waldron said.

UMaine and Study Group have set an opening goal of getting 50 students to attend UMaine this fall, according to Waldron.

“Then what we’re intending is it will increase over the time period,” Waldron said. “Study Group has said that they will try to get 300 to this campus annually.”

After starting out with a smaller goal, USM will be aiming to add 100 international students annually.

The percentage of the tuition dollars UMS pays for Study Group will in turn help fund the two international study centers that will be on the UMaine and USM campus.

“The study centers create a support environment that also has associated with it some delivery of course material,” Waldron said.

The revenue UMS hopes to obtain, according to Waldron, will then be used to “strengthen the core academic programs and broaden the array of programs.”

While specifics as to how they’ll be improved aren’t available, Waldron said that the addition of Study Group at other U.S. universities has been productive.

“It’s been demonstrated elsewhere at other universities that have instituted this,” Waldron said. In the U.S., Study Group is working with the University of Vermont, Long Island University, Widener University, Roosevelt University and James Madison University. Study Group also has higher education partnerships with universities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

“This is a different model than going out and hiring a recruiting firm that all they do is find students and refer them to you,” Waldron said. “What Study Group does is they identify students, and then they provide the full support to the students to ensure that they’re successful. It’s a comprehensive support network.”

Waldron also said that the involvement of Study Group will not mean the elimination of other ways the university recruits international students.

“This complements our existing programs on campus,” Waldron said.

While the majority of international recruits are expected to be undergraduates, there will be a number of students entering a pre-masters program to help increase his or her English proficiency.

Further down the line, UMS and Study Group could open up discussions on UMaine students having more opportunities to study abroad with the help of Study Group, but Waldron admitted those conversations are far down the pipeline.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for our Maine students to start tapping into this global network and the partnerships that they have,” she said. “We haven’t [fully] developed that part of the program yet, but down the road it’s something we want to work on.”

It is surreal that “Archer” is already a month into its fourth season on FX. I still remember stumbling upon the first episode in 2009, skeptical at first, but continuing to laugh harder and harder as the episode, and eventually the series, continued.

The spy cartoon revolves around a secret agency called ISIS. The show’s namesake is a perfect cocktail of James Bond and the cockiest kid you knew in high school. The show has established legitimacy as it enters its fourth season with an ever-expanding cast of guest stars — the often-mentioned Burt Reynolds even guest starred as, well, Burt Reynolds. I still find myself pining to anyone and everyone I know that they should watch it. Every episode.

And just a quick tangent, while it may seem like a member of this paper bought stock in FX, I will now list a number of FX shows that I would rather look at a blank TV screen than watch: “Anger Management,” “Brand X” with Russell Brand, “Legit,” “Terriers” and “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.”

“Archer’s” popularity is no longer in question, but the show has developed the difficult task of taking on more storylines and characters without getting convoluted, confusing or inconsistent. In this season’s third episode, a character that had been seen just once in Season 1 was given a brief 5-second cameo, as if creator Adam Reed was saying to his audience, “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about him.”

H. Jon Benjamin, who voices Archer, has only grown in popularity since the show’s debut, thanks in part to the show’s success and also to a lead role on Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers,” which took me a while to get into — the main characters share the exact same voice.

Archer’s brilliance was affecting my ability to watch other cartoons.

While Benjamin has benefitted from the success, the most famous regular will always be Jessica Walter, who voices Archer’s mother and head of ISIS, Malory Archer. For any “Arrested Development” fans, Malory’s character is more or less the cartoon embodiment of Lucille Bluth;instead of a construction company, the Archer family runs a spy agency.

The show’s main attraction was and continues to be the ambiguity of when it takes place. Between the style, the sociology and the political landscape, it screams 1970s Cold War, but the pop-culture references are all present day. One of the show’s best lines from Season 1 was when accountant Cyril Figgis was training to become a secret agent and asked Archer excitedly if he gets to learn Karate. Archer laughs it off. “The Dane Cook of martial arts? No.” Season 4’s latest episode had a shout-out to everyone’s favorite astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson.

While it continues to bend time with its pop-culture references, the show has started to develop its own inside storylines that fervent followers tend to grasp a hold of, as it separates him or her from the casual observer. If you haven’t followed Archer from the start, then you’ll have no idea why he hates cyborgs. Or why after Ron Cadillac told Archer about sewer alligators, Archer couldn’t defecate for weeks.

Archer is already through three seasons, but I hope there’s not a near end in sight. Thankfully, the odds seem in my favor: Any character they kill off, they can just bring back as a cyborg. Much to Archer’s dismay.