Pick up a copy of the paper today if you can, but if you can't wait, here are some of the stories you'll find:
• It's interesting, it seems the rise of the other four D1 programs in the State of Hockey have made a generation of players fans of all the teams. Even Minnesota State's Riese Zmolek, whose dad, Doug, played for the Gophers, said he was simply a WCHA fan growing up. Still, this is a significant weekend for a lot of players who watched a lot of Minnesota games on TV over the years.
• After not playing last year, it's good to see Minnesota State and Minnesota back on each other's schedule. But the year off was a good reason to go back and look at the history of the series and some good, bad and wacky moments that took place over two decades.
• One of those moments, a certain "epic" playoff series in 2008, is still fresh in a lot of fans' minds. Who could ever forget three games and five overtimes. Even fans of MSU, which lost the series, think it might have been the best weekend of hockey ever played in Mankato.
• As always, the College Hockey Gameday feature takes a closer look at this weekend's games.
As for the Gophers, new coach Bob Motzko believes he has a good problem in goal with two solid ones to choose from. Also from the Star Tribune is a series preview. In the Pioneer Press, there's a story on Minnesota trying to cut down on penalties, an issue Motzko didn't have too often at St. Cloud State.
Going around the WCHA ...
Northern Michigan at Bowling Green: This is a big matchup between two league contenders. The Wildcats are coming off a tough home split against Bemidji State in which it thought it scored a late-game-winner on Saturday only to have it waved off after review (apparently the WCHA sent a letter saying the refs got it wrong). Then the Beavers won it in the game's final second. The Falcons, meanwhile, are ranked No. 9 after a stellar 5-1-1 nonconference run.
Bemidji State at Alaska Anchorage: The Beavers go from the Eastern Time Zone to Alaska Time in back-to-back weekends to take on the Seawolves. It's the end of a five-game road swing for Bemidji State. The Seawolves are back home after a pair of losses at Ferris State. Those games came 19 days after their previous game, so finally getting into a real groove might be good for Anchorage.
Michigan Tech at Alabama Huntsville: The Huskies are in the midst of an eight game road swing that started with a split last weekend at Wisconsin. They are opening WCHA play against a Chargers team that has yet to win in eight games so far.
Michigan at Lake Superior State: It should be a fun weekend in Sault Ste. Marie as the Lakers are undefeated (4-0-0) and the Wolverines are making the trek there for the first time since the 2012-13 season when they were both members of the CCHA. It's nothing new for Michigan coach Mel Pearson, though, as he's in his second year there after coaching at Michigan Tech.
Ferris State at/vs. Michigan State: The third series of this weekend's unofficial WCHA-Big Ten crossover is a home-and-home series between the Bulldogs and the Spartans. Ferris State is coming off a sweep of Anchorage to start league play.
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