Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are in Marquette to take on the Wildcats in what should be a good WCHA series (sadly Puckato will be watching from afar, not making the trip this year).

The series features two of the more-experienced defensemen in the WCHA, a league that has a lot of good, older D-men with a lot of games under their belts. I once heard another team's radio play-by-play guy say it seems like Ian Scheid's been at MSU for six years; Mike Hastings said the same thing about NMU's Philip Beaulieu and Bowling Green's Alec Rauhauser — because they've all been lineup staples since they arrived on their respective campuses.

For much more on the series, see The Free Press' College Hockey Gameday feature.

From the Wildcats' perspective, coach Grant Potulny says the No. 1 Mavericks are a team without a weakness.

Although Minnesota State won't play in Mankato again until January 3-4, the Star Tribune's Randy Johnson does a nice piece on taking in a game at the civic center as a paying (sort of) fan, not as a hockey writer.

Going around the WCHA ...

Clarkson at Michigan Tech: To the west of Marquette, in Houghton, the Huskies will host the No. 4 Golden Knights in a nonconference series. Tech has won seven of eight and hopes a good weekend can carry over for a stronger second half than it had last year. Clarkson has won eight of its last nine games and is 11-3-1.

Bowling Green at Lake Superior State: To the east of Marquette, in Sault Ste. Marie, the No. 10 Falcons will be on the road to face the Lakers. Bowling Green is unbeaten in seven of its last eight games but is still seeking some consistency. Lake Superior State, which was swept in Mankato last weekend, has just one win in its last 10 games. The two teams played just three weeks ago, splitting at Bowling Green.

Alabama Huntsville at Ferris State: The Chargers will try to get out of the WCHA cellar, while the Bulldogs will try to separate themselves from the bottom of the league this weekend in Big Rapids (yes, all of the WCHA games this weekend are in Michigan). Ferris State has gotten points each of the last three weekends. UAH has gotten points in its last two series.