The Mavericks are getting healthier, too. Dylan Margonari, who sat out last Saturday, missed some practice time this week, as did Chase Grant and Jon Jutzi. All three practiced on Thursday and are available for tonight.
Staying on the subject of health, did you know goalie Stephon Williams played with a torn labrum in his hip last year? He sure kept that quiet. He had surgery to repair the injury in the offseason and said he feels 100 percent at the start of his sophomore year.
UConn, meanwhile, is playing its first games of the season and is starting a new era. Mike Cavanaugh takes over as head coach after several seasons at Boston College. This will be the Huskies' final season in Atlantic Hockey. They will move to Hockey East next year and are in the process of becoming fully funded with the NCAA limit of 18 scholarships.
Going around the WCHA ...
Minnesota at Bemidji State: The Beavers had a solid showing on opening weekend with a close loss and tie at St. Cloud State. Tougher task this weekend, though, with the Gophers coming to town.
Colgate at Bowling Green: The Falcons are fresh off a come-from-behind victory over Ohio State on Tuesday and did it without standout Ryan Carpenter, who underwent surgery on his finger but could return next month.
Nebraska Omaha at Northern Michigan: The Wildcats found out last weekend at Wisconsin that they weren't as deep up front as they thought they were, so coach Walt Kyle has been tinkering with his lines.
Michigan Tech at Notre Dame (Friday-Sunday): The Huskies have one of the WCHA's toughest early season schedules as well as one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country. That slate of games includes this weekend's games against the fourth-ranked Irish.
Alaska Anchorage and Alaska in Alaska Goal Rush (with Western Michigan and Denver): The Seawolves and the Nanooks each get to face an old conference foe this weekend in Fairbanks. Anchorage will try to keep its good start going after opening 2-0. The Nanooks won their own tournament a year ago and hope to do that again this time around.
On USCHO today, Marquette's Matt Wellens and I make our weekend picks. You can read our weekly WCHA notebook here.
College Hockey News put together its WCHA preview and also has a Q&A with new Anchorage coach Matt Thomas, who received much attention this week by getting his team halfway to last year's win total.
Check back on the blog later for tonight's lines, a pregame blog and a live chat during tonight's game.
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