Friday morning reading

It's another hockey weekend, and the Mavericks are back in town for the first time in three weeks, with a series against No. 3 Colorado College.

A couple of notes: forward Jason Wiley remains out with an injury, although coach Troy Jutting says he's close to returning and may be available for Saturday. ... Defenseman Brian Kilburg will be a healthy scratch; sounds like a performance-based benching.

Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Mike Louwerse is the healthiest he's been in three years, which may be why he's off to such a hot start.

CC coach Scott Owens picked the Mavericks to finish in the top half of the league and said, "This is not your father's Mankato."

In North Dakota, the Sioux are getting creative in order to get more scoring from their defensemen. They will face Alaska-Anchorage, who are now in the real meat of their schedule.

Wisconsin will travel to Duluth, which will have a new DECC in a couple of years. The Capital Times explores the WCHA's upcoming building boom. The Badgers like their chances when Tom Gorowski scores. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, played seven of their first nine games on the road and are glad to be back in the old DECC.

Denver goes to St. Cloud where it is 7-1-0 in its last eight games at the National Hockey Center. However, the Pioneers are a little banged up going into the series. The Huskies' Brian Volpei has picked up the tempo.

Here are the WCHA weekend previews from INCH (and here), USCHO and the WCHA blog.

A few more notes: The Minnesota State women's team will be playing St. Cloud State at the Alltel Center this weekend. It's the first time in a few years that they will be playing downtown. Game times are 2 p.m. today and Saturday.

Looking for something to do after Saturday night's game. Fish Frye, a FOP (Friend of PucKato) will be playing a post-hockey gig at McGoff's Irish Bar. If you play your cards right, they just might let a certain local hockey writer sing the Zamboni song.