Friday, October 19, 2018

Friday Morning Skate

Minnesota State and North Dakota are meeting again at long last this weekend in Grand Forks. It will be their first games against each other since 2013 and their first at UND since 2012.

The series is part of a challenging nonconference schedule for the Mavericks, one that includes Boston University, Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth as well. But that's the kind of schedule MSU wants to have in order to progress as a program, coach Mike Hastings says.

The Mavericks also have put themselves in a position where they're no longer an underdog against these teams.

Read more about the series in the Freep's College Hockey Gameday.

As always, Brad Schlossman at the Grand Forks Herald has excellent coverage. Today, he takes a look at the Mavericks coaching staff, all of whom hail from that newspaper's coverage area: Section 8 country in northwest Minnesota. He also has a video preview of the weekend.

Earlier, Schloss did a a three-part series on the formation of the NCHC, the conference North Dakota left the WCHA for. Read Part I, Part II and Part III.

Going around the WCHA slate this weekend, MSU-UND won't be the only WCHA-NCHC matchup. There are three others ...

Northern Michigan goes to St. Cloud State for what should be another good, early season test for the Wildcats.

Alaska goes to Denver, a series in which the two coaching staffs have close ties.

On Tuesday, fast-starting Bowling Green will host Western Michigan to finish off a series that began with a BG win on Oct. 9 in Kalamazoo.

Other WCHA games this weekend include Ferris State hosts Mercyhurst, and Alabama Huntsville hosts Arizona State.

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