Friday Morning Skate

Happy Black Friday. No late-night or early-morning shopping for me. I'm still full of stuffing and gravy. But tonight the Mavericks take on the Seawolves at the Verizon Wireless Center and will attempt to break a three-game losing streak along the way.

Amid some of MSU's struggles, we're seeing some growth and maturity from a few players, notably junior forward Eli Zuck.

I'll post official lines later (I had Thanksgiving off so did not get to practice), but earlier this week coach Troy Jutting said Brett Stern should be available this weekend. That should be a boost for the defensive corps. Read more in the gameday preview.

Colorado College at North Dakota: North Dakota may be off to a slow start but the Tigers aren't looking past them. As for the Sioux, captain Mario Lamoureux believes they can turn things around even against a high-scoring team like CC.

St. Cloud State at Nebraska Omaha (Saturday-Sunday series): The Huskies' top Twitterer, Nic Dowd might be immortalized in bobblehead next season in a promotion by his junior team, the Wenatchee Wild (What? not Evan Mosey?!?!). For the red Mavericks, they are looking for a goalie to step up this season, and Dean Blais sounds a lot like Troy Jutting with his 90 percent rule.

Minnesota at Michigan State: The Gophers head east to take on a future Big 10 foe. Minnesota has had great success this season, especially when leading or tied in the second intermission. It helps when you have a player like Nick Bjugstad, who is tied atop the national scoring race.

Mercyhurst at Wisconsin: The Badgers host a nonconference series against the Lakers, and freshman Brendan Woods will see some time on the top line after getting shuffled around throughout the first quarter of the season.

Denver in Denver Cup with Princeton, Miami and Providence: Going into their annual tournament, the Pioneers are hurting, as it was repoted this week that defenseman John Ryder and goalie Adam Murray are out indefinitely with injury. Denver, like Wisconsin, has a freshman on the top line.

In another series involving a WCHA team, Michigan Tech is at St. Lawrence, a place MSU will be going in January.

Check out more coverage from USCHO.

Come back later for the live blog — hopefully one with a little more decorum than last week :)