Friday Morning Skate

The No. 3 Mavericks are back on the road to face No. 12 Bowling Green in a matchup of two of the top teams in the WCHA. If you're a betting person, the odds of a split are good, as they have split every regular-season series since becoming league foes, going 7-7-2.

Minnesota State will be without coach Mike Hastings, who is off to the Pacific Northwest to begin his quest with the U.S. Junior National Team. Hastings feels like the team will be in capable hands over the next six games with Todd Knott and Darren Blue running things. The Mavericks also will be without their athletic trainer, Matt Schmidt, who is joining Hastings' Team USA staff.

The College Hockey Gameday has five things to know about the Mavericks-Falcons matchup.

Although they've had a good degree of success against MSU, the Falcons are hoping to become as consistent as the Mavericks have been over the years.

In other WCHA action ...

Alabama Huntsville at Michigan Tech: The Chargers got their second win of the season last Saturday at Bemidji but now face the league's second-place team, the Huskies, who are coming off a split of their own. Tech swept UAH in Alabama in early November.

Ferris State at Northern Michigan: The Bulldogs are on an eight-game winless streak and snapping it will be no easy task in Marquette against the Wildcats, who are 4-3 in their last seven games and 4-1 at home against league opponents.

Alaska Anchorage at Bemidji State: The Seawolves stayed in Minnesota after last weekend's series in Mankato and will try to break their 12-game winless streak (0-11-1) when they play the Beavers. Bemidji State hopes to do to UAA what it did to them back in early November in Anchorage.