In Red Gendron’s fourth season as the University of Maine men’s hockey coach, improvement was expected.

The Black Bears (7-10-3) are one victory away from matching last year’s win total.

But Maine is also only 1-6-1 in Hockey East, sitting in last place among 12 teams.

Improvement?

The optimistic answer is it’s too early to tell. Maine’s four conference opponents to this point are among the top five in the league standings.

But Gendron doesn’t think his team necessarily will cruise against the league’s bottom-tier teams in the second half of the season.

“Everyone in Hockey East is very good,” he said. “You’ve got to be ready to bring it emotionally, in terms of preparation and in terms of execution.”

The Black Bears resume conference play this week with a series against Connecticut (8-7-6, 4-3-2), Thursday night in Bridgeport (away from the Huskies’ usual home in Hartford), and Saturday at Fenway Park – part of Hockey East’s role in the Frozen Fenway lineup.

Maine has 14 games left, all against conference opponents. The Black Bears obviously need to improve.

“Our biggest thing right now is that we’re playing good but not good enough,” said senior defenseman and co-captain Eric Schurhamer.

Maine began the season 3-0, including a win over nationally ranked Quinnipiac (now No. 15), and later beat No. 6 UMass-Lowell.

The Black Bears have played well in some losses but rarely close games out. In regular-season games decided by a single goal, they are 1-3.

“Our team is playing well but we need to play well more consistently,” said senior forward and co-captain Cam Brown. “We’ve had very strong, high-end play. Then we haven’t had great periods or we have lapses.”

Brown leads the team in points with 21 (three goals, 18 assists), which ranks 13th in Hockey East.

Other statistics are not so favorable. Here are some conference numbers to ponder:

Team offense: 11th of 12 teams (2.12 goals a game).

Team defense: 12th (allowing four goals a game).

Penalty minutes: First (16.6 a game).

Power-play differential: 11th (minus 6 goals).

“We want to play better defensively in general … and stay out of the penalty box unnecessarily,” Gendron said.

“The bottom line is I like our team. We’ve shown what we can do when we are at the top of our game … our job is to get at the top of our game on a consistent basis … We play pretty well and then it gets away from us.”

Maine needs to go 4-9-1 in its remaining games to equal last year’s league record (5-15-2).

With a better finish, the Black Bears could host a first-round playoff series. The first four league teams receive a first-round bye and teams that place fifth through eighth host the opening round.

To finish eighth, Maine needs to pass Merrimack (1-4-3), Massachusetts (2-8-1), Providence (1-5-2) and Northeastern (1-7-2) – all teams on Maine’s remaining schedule.

The Black Bears are winless (0-6-3) in games outside the state. Seven of Maine’s remaining 14 games are beyond the state border.

ONE MAINER will be on the ice this week, but he won’t be skating for the Black Bears.

UConn’s roster includes freshman forward Ben Freeman of Falmouth.

Freeman, who turned 21 on Tuesday, has played in 19 of 21 games, totaling nine points (two goals, seven assists).

“It’s going pretty well,” said Freeman, who is on the Huskies’ second line. “It’s been an adjustment, but every level of hockey is an adjustment.”

Freeman, at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, has played various levels. After two seasons with Falmouth High (2010-11, 2011-12), he moved on to prep school at Northfield Mount Hermon in western Massachusetts.

After three years there, Freeman played one year of juniors with the Junior Rangers in Stamford, Connecticut.

Freeman grew up cheering for the Black Bears. He took a recruiting visit to Orono but opted for the Huskies.

“I liked (Maine) for the most part but UConn was impossible to pass up,” Freeman said. “I really liked the coaches.

“Plus, I wanted to get out of Maine and I liked being part of a new program.”