Friday-morning reading

Minnesota State has a home game for the first time since Jan. 30 and will host No. 16 Wisconsin tonight at the Alltel Center. Here is The Free Press' preview. The Mavericks' Geoff Irwin has been red hot of late, averaging more than a point per game since 2009 began.

As for the Badgers, they have had their ups and downs this season. Now, they're getting some help from a sports psycologist. Meanwhile, Wisconsin has the only player in the WCHA who has more penalty minutes than MSU's Trevor Bruess, and that's junior John Mitchell. Here is the Wisconsin State Journal's preview.

Around the rest of the WCHA ...

Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota: The Duluth News-Tribune takes a look at the Bulldogs-Gophers rivalry, but the Gophers are closing down a strange season and thinking more about avoiding back-to-back lower-division WCHA finshes.

St. Cloud State at Denver: The Huskies are counting on the experience and savvy of defenseman Dave Carlisle to hold off the Pioneers. Some in Denver may be calculating what it will take over their last three games to win the McNaughton Cup, but coach George Gwozecky says that's not the goal.

Colorado College at North Dakota: This is a Saturday-Sunday series, but the Grand Forks Herald takes a look at one player who has emerged during yet another great second-half run -- forward Jake Marto. The Colorado Springs Gazette, meanwhile, breaks down this season's tight WCHA race.

Michigan Tech is idle this week, while Alaska-Anchorage plays a nonconference series against rival Alaska. Tech is locked into 10th place, but the Seawolves are one point behind Minnesota State and certainly will be rooting for Wisconsin this weekend.

Here are previews from Inside College Hockey, USCHO and This is the WCHA.

On the INCH preview/notebook, be sure to read Jess Myers' goodbye to the Rocky Mountain News. Today, the RMN published its last edition. It's another dark day in what's been a dark year for the newspaper industry. As I sit here and update my blog, trying to do my best keep up with the direction "print" journalism has taken, I'm saddened by what's happened to newspapers. If you get a second, check out today's RMN front pages and their website.