When Minnesota Duluth and Michigan Tech left the ice after two periods Saturday at MacInnes Student Ice Arena, Huskies winger Tyler Gubb had been assessed a boarding minor. His hit from behind on UMD’s David Grun came at the end of the period.

The penalty was explained to both coaches and official stats handed to both coaches in their locker rooms reflected a two-minute penalty.

When the teams returned for the third period, referees Peter Friesema and Max Battimo informed both teams that Gubb’s penalty was now a checking-from-behind five-minute major penalty.

Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell said after the game he thought the officials were joking, honestly joking. It was no joke. They had changed their minds on the call. Russell said he’d never seen a penalty changed between periods, but it happened in Houghton, Mich.

The Huskies were able to kill the major, yet were held scoreless in a 3-0 loss to UMD in extending their winless streak to 20 games at 0-18-2. Michigan Tech is home with Wisconsin this weekend, while UMD is idle.

Western College Hockey takes a look a Western Collegiate Hockey Association and Central Collegiate Hockey Association results from last weekend here.

A Tuesday Bracketology from the Without a Peer RPI Blog is here.

Denver leads the WCHA with six weeks left in the regular season. Yet the focus for the Pioneers isn’t the MacNaughton Cup, but a return to NCAA success, says Mike Chambers of the Denver Post in talking with coach George Gwozdecky on the subject here.

Penn State, which will begin men’s and women’s varsity hockey in 2012-13, has officially named its soon-to-be-built $88 million rink in honor of donors Terry and Kim Pegula. The Pegula Ice Arena is expected to open in late 2013. A release from Penn State is here.

Minnesota Duluth continues among the Top Five in Division I according to Monday’s polls, following a road sweep of Michigan Tech.

Inside College Hockey has the Bulldogs at No. 4 here.

U.S. College Hockey Online has UMD at No. 5 here.

And the PairWise Rankings have a three-way tie for second with UMD, North Dakota and Denver here.

Monday also brings Bracketology from Sixty Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets. here.

U.S. College Hockey Online‘s Western Collegiate Hockey Association blog looks back at last weekend here.

In advance of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul in June, the NHL website is profiling draft prospects. This week’s story features USA U-18 goalie John Gibson, headed to Michigan, and a mention of his teammate, UMD recruit Matt McNeely of Burnsville, Minn., in a story here.

The UMD men are off this week before returning to play Feb. 4-5 at home against Minnesota.

Despite a loss and tie at home with No. 1 Wisconsin last weekend, the UMD women stayed at No. 6 in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings and moved up one spot to No. 6 in the PairWise Rankings here.

Strangely enough, the Wisconsin-Superior men’s team beat No. 2 St. Norbert and lost by a goal to the Green Knights, and are second in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, but aren’t ranked in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll.

The UWS women are also second in the NCHA, to No. 2-ranked River Falls, but are also unranked.

It’s crowded at the top of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association following Saturday’s games as the leading three teams won keeping defending champion Denver in first with 27 points, and Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota tied for second, 1 point back.

In the PairWise Rankings things are just as tight as Denver, UMD and North Dakota are tied for second in Division I behind Yale. The PairWise is here.

In WCHA statistics, for all games, Jack Connolly is second in scoring with 35 points, Justin Fontaine is fourth with 33 and Mike Connolly tied for sixth with 29.  J.T. Brown is fourth in freshman scoring with 21. In goalie winning percentage, Aaron Crandall leads at 8-2-1 and Kenny Reiter is third at 9-3-2. UMD is second in offense (3.48) and defense (2.28).

In Saturday’s games, there were sweeps in all but one series, UMD won 3-0 at Michigan Tech; Denver won 5-1 at home over Alaska Anchorage; Wisconsin won 2-1 at home over Minnesota State-Mankato; St. Cloud State won 5-1 at Bemidji State; and Colorado College won 4-1 at home over Alabama-Huntsville; while North Dakota gained a split with a 4-2 win at home over Nebraska-Omaha.

The Houghton Mining Gazette, via U.S. College Hockey Online, has a recap of the UMD-Michigan Tech game here.

In Grand Forks, N.D., the game was 0-0 until Omaha’s Terry Broadhurst scored short-handed at 4:10 of the third, followed by three straight North Dakota goals (two in 91 seconds) from Evan Trupp, Danny Kristo and Jason Gregoire. North Dakota had two power-play goals, while both Omaha goals were short-handed. Aaron Dell (17-5-1) had 19 saves. North Dakota led in shots 27-21. North Dakota is 13-3-1 the last 17 games. The Omaha World Herald has a story here and the Grand Forks Herald has a recap here.

At Denver, just 3:06 Chris Cowell gave Anchorage a 1-0 lead. Denver countered with three first-period goals within 2:36,  including a short-hander from Anthony Maiani. The Pioneers then scored 96 seconds into the third period Sam Brittain (11-4-5) had 28 saves. Denver led in shorts 32-29. Denver is 5-0-3 the last eight games and 12-1-3 the last 16. The Anchorage Daily News has a story here and the Denver Post has a recap here.

At Madison, Wis., a 1-0 Wisconsin lead, from a first-period goal by Jordy Murray (14), lasted until Mankato’s Joe Schiller scored at 3:44 of the third period. Just 39 seconds later, star sophomore forward Craig Smith (15) got the game winner. Scott Gudmandson had 34 saves in the win. Mankato led in shots 35-29. The Badgers have a Kohl Center-record nine straight wins and are 10-1 the last 11 overall. The Mankato Free Press has a recap here Wisconsin State Journal has a story here.

At Bemidji, Minn., three goals within 2:45 in the first period put St. Cloud State on the way to victory. Two more in the second — from Garrett Roe and Cam Reid — finished it off. Mike Lee had 26 saves for the win. St. Cloud led in shots 30-27. St. Cloud State has won six straight games and allowed just three goals total in the last four, The St. Cloud Times has a story here and the Bemidji Pioneer has a story here.

At Colorado Springs, Colo., independent Alabama-Huntsville was in a 1-1 tie early in the second period before Colorado College got goals from some unlikely scorers. Getting their first goals of the season were Michael Morin and Scott Winkler, and Mike Boivin scored his second. Joe Howe had 28 saves in the win. Colorado College led in shots 32-29. Huntsville is 1-12-1 the last 14 games. The Colorado Springs Gazette has a recap here.

WCHA Standings Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 Denver            27  18 12- 3- 3 .750  63- 45   26 16- 5- 5 .712  87- 66
 2 Minnesota Duluth  26  18 12- 4- 2 .722  58- 37   25 17- 5- 3 .740  87- 57
   North Dakota      26  18 13- 5- 0 .722  62- 45   27 18- 7- 2 .704  98- 68
 4 Nebraska-Omaha    22  18 10- 6- 2 .611  60- 46   24 13- 9- 2 .583  83- 64
 5 Wisconsin         20  18  9- 7- 2 .556  48- 38   28 17- 8- 3 .661  95- 57
 6 Colorado College  16  16  8- 8- 0 .500  52- 44   26 14-11- 1 .558  89- 72
   Minnesota         16  16  7- 7- 2 .500  48- 49   22 10- 9- 3 .523  67- 67
 8 St. Cloud State   15  16  7- 8- 1 .469  44- 43   24 11-11- 2 .500  68- 69
 9 Alaska Anchorage  14  18  6-10- 2 .389  38- 54   22  7-12- 3 .386  52- 69
10 Bemidji State     12  18  5-11- 2 .333  39- 51   24  9-13- 2 .417  54- 63
11 Minnesota State   11  18  4-11- 3 .306  43- 62   26 10-11- 5 .481  77- 81
12 Michigan Tech      3  16  1-14- 1 .094  30- 71   24  3-18- 3 .188  55-105

HOUGHTON, Mich. — Two solid games, 120 minutes. That was the request of Minnesota Duluth’s coaches as the Bulldogs went on the road to face a team that hasn’t won since October.

No. 3-ranked UMD completed its task Saturday night with a 3-0 victory over last-place Michigan Tech for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association men’s sweep before 2,153 fans at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

UMD (17-5-3 and 12-4-2 WCHA) recorded two shutouts – a first in program history for one series. Aaron Crandall made 14 saves Saturday, Kenny Reiter had 14 saves in Friday’s 5-0 victory.

Michigan Tech (3-18-3 and 1-14-1) has now gone 0-18-2 the past 20 games and has lost 14 straight in the league.

“We didn’t give Michigan Tech’s record a lot of thought. You can’t think something is going to be easy,” said UMD junior All-American center Jack Connolly, the WCHA scoring leader for all games. “We took them seriously like we would a North Dakota or Wisconsin. And, for the weekend, we didn’t give them a whole lot and we didn’t make many mistakes.”

After being held without a shot on goal through the first six minutes, UMD got goals 2:01 apart in the second-half of the opening period. Connolly was wide open at the left edge of the crease and buried a J.T. Brown pass with 7:36 left in the period. It was his 12th of the season and 40th in 108 career games. Sophomore winger Dan DeLisle finished a rush on a Drew Olson pass with 5:35 to go.

That would be all of the scoring until the game’s last two minutes. The Bulldogs had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:09 in the second period and a five-minute power play to start the third, but didn’t score. Yet, UMD was all but flawless in most other areas.

“We played well in the last period against Wisconsin (in a 3-2 loss a week earlier) and we built on that,” said Crandall, who has two shutouts this season. “We probably played 110 of 120 minutes the way we wanted this weekend. We scored some pretty goals and got a great defensive effort.”

Almost nothing has gone right for Michigan Tech, other than the first five games of the men’s hockey season. The Huskies were 3-0-2 in the middle of October and haven’t won since. And they’ve suffered three straight shutout losses and haven’t scored for 207 minutes and 27 seconds. They were outshot 60-28 in the series, but were in Saturday’s game until the very end.

“We played a good, solid game, but made two mistakes in the first period and Duluth capitalized on both. They have some snipers,” said Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell. “We passed up too many opportunities on our power play.”

Michigan Tech lost senior forward Jordan Baker to an injury before the season. Junior center scoring star Brett Olson injured a finger versus Duluth in November and missed 11 games. Senior forward Eric Kattelus was dismissed from the team in November. Senior forward Bennett Royer missed 11 games with a leg injury. Sophomore forward Aaron Pietila, freshman forward (and scoring leader) Milos Gordic and sophomore defenseman Carl Nielsen were out this weekend with injuries.

Eight freshmen among 18 skaters were in Michigan Tech’s lineup.

Freshman winger Brown finished with five points in the series including a goal with 1:52 to play. His pass to Travis Oelskuk bounced off a Michigan Tech skate and high into the net past goalie Josh Robinson in a 4-on-4 shift.

The Bulldogs earned their first sweep in Houghton in nearly seven years, since 5-4 and 6-3 win on Oct. 15-16, 2004, and have won five straight in the series, and are 5-1 in January.

“It was a total team effort for two nights. We focused on what we needed to do well and from the goalies on out, we had a great weekend,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin.

The WCHA’s top three teams won Saturday as North Dakota defeated Nebraska-Omaha 4-2 and Denver defeated Alaska Anchorage 5-1. That kept Denver in the league lead with 27 points, with UMD and Denver tied for second, one point back.

In the PairWise Rankings, Yale stayed at No. 1, followed by the WCHA’s top three — Denver, UMD and North Dakota tied for second.

The Bulldogs have their final idle week of the regular season this week and resume play Feb. 4-5 at home against Minnesota.

Minnesota Duluth……………. 2-0-1—3

Michigan Tech……………….. 0-0-0—0

First period — 1. UMD, Jack Connolly 12 (J.T. Brown), 12:24; 2. UMD, Dan DeLisle 4 (Drew Olson, Mike Seidel), 14:25. Penalty — Brady Lamb, UMD (cross checking), 17:52.

Second period — No scoring. Penalties — Ryan Furne, Michigan Tech (interference), 4:12; Bennett Royer, Michigan Tech (interference), 14:16; Steven Seigo, Michigan Tech (cross-checking), 15:07; David Grun, UMD (high sticking), 17:23; Tyler Gubb, Michigan Tech (slashing), 17:23; Mike Connolly, UMD (roughing), 20:00; Wade Bergman, UMD (roughing), 20:00; Seigo, Michigan Tech (roughing), 20:00; Gubb, Michigan Tech (boarding, 5-minute major checking from behind), 20:00.

Third period — 3. UMD, Brown 8 (Justin Faulk), 18:08 (4×4). Penalties — Brad Stebner, Michigan Tech (roughing), 9:55; Joe Basaraba, UMD (roughing), 9:55; Trent Palm, UMD (holding), 12:16; Mike Seidel, UMD (embellishment), 17:13; Stebner, Michigan Tech (hooking), 17:13.

Shots on goal — UMD 7-15-11—33; Michigan Tech 6-1-7—14. Goalies — Aaron Crandall (8-2-1), UMD  (14 shots-14 saves); Josh Robinson (1-9-2), Michigan Tech (33 shots-30 saves). Power plays — UMD 0-of-4, Michigan Tech 0-of-2. Referees — Peter Friesema, Max Battimo. Linesmen — Mike Gulenchyn, Matt Gerlach. A — 2,153.

There’s a new leader in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association — Denver — after three teams played King of the Hill on Friday. Minnesota Duluth was the first to finish, winning 5-0 at Michigan Tech, to momentarily tie North Dakota for the lead.

The co-leaders stayed that way as North Dakota finished next, losing 8-4 at home to Nebraska-Omaha. But Denver trumped all with a 3-2 home win over Alaska Anchorage. Denver has 25 points, UMD and North Dakota 24 and Omaha is fourth with 22.

Also, Wisconsin won at home, 3-2 over Minnesota State-Mankato; St. Cloud State won 2-1 in overtime at Bemidji State; and in non-league play homestanding Colorado College topped Alabama-Huntsville 7-0.

The Houghton Mining Gazette has a Tech-UMD recap here.

Saturday’s PairWise Rankings show Yale still at No. 1, UMD No. 2, North Dakota No. 3, Denver No. 4, with Wisconsin and Omaha tied for eighth. Five WCHA teams in the top nine. The PairWise is here.

UMD’s Jack Connolly is tied for first in league scoring for all games with 34 points, Justin Fontaine is tied for third with 32 and Mike Connolly is tied for sixth with 29.

At Grand Forks, N.D., the league’s marquee series had Dean Blais returning to Ralph Engelstad Arena as Omaha played its first series in history in North Dakota. So what did the Mavericks do — score on five of seven power plays, leading 2-0 after one period and 7-1 after two. Two of the power plays were 5-on-3 and another 6-on-3. Senior center Joey Martin had three goals, including the third with 6:13 to play after North Dakota pulled within 7-4 on goals by Chay Genoway, Evan Trupp and Jason Gregoire. Aaron Dell and Brad Eidsness each played half the game for North Dakota and each allowed four goals. The goals were the most allowed at home by North Dakota since 1992. Omaha entered the series on a four-game winless streak. The Omaha World Herald has a story here and the Grand Forks Herald has a recap here.

In Denver, the game was 1-1 after one period and 2-2 early in the third (aided by two Denver goals by Kyle Ostrow), and Beau Bennett got the game winner with 10:38 to play. That broke Anchorage’s three-game unbeaten streak. Anchorage native Adam Murray (5-1) got the win with 21 saves. Denver is 4-0-3 the last seven games and 11-1-3 the last 15. The Anchorage Daily News has a story here and the Denver Post has a recap here.

At Bemidji, Minn., the game was 1-1 through regulation on second-period goals from St. Cloud State’s Nick Jensen and Bemidji’s Matt Read (15). Then Nic Dowd got the game-winner with just 28 seconds left in OT. Mike Lee made 22 saves for the win. St. Cloud State led in shots 27-23. St. Cloud has won five straight. The Bemidji Pioneer has a story here and the St. Cloud Times has a recap here.

In Madison, Wis., the visiting Mavericks led 1-0 after one period on an Andrew Sackriskon goal before Wisconsin scored three in the second, starting with Podge Turnbull (10). Mike Louwerse scored for Mankato with 5:03 to play. Mankato led in shots 39-30. Scott Gudmandson got the win with 37 saves. Wisconsin is 9-1 the last 10 games. The Mankato Free Press has a story here and the Wisconsin State Journal has a story here.

In Colorado Springs, Colo., four first-period goals put Colorado College out of reach early against Huntsville (3-22-2). The Tigers added three in the second, one by Tyler Johnson (16), and the scoring was over. Archie Skalbeck had two goals for CC. Josh Thorimbert had 17 saves in the win. The Tigers led in shots 38-17. The Colorado Springs Gazette has a recap here.

WCHA Standings Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 Denver            25  17 11- 3- 3 .735  58- 44   25 15- 5- 5 .700  82- 65
 2 Minnesota Duluth  24  17 11- 4- 2 .706  55- 37   24 16- 5- 3 .729  84- 57
   North Dakota      24  17 12- 5- 0 .706  58- 43   26 17- 7- 2 .692  94- 66
 4 Nebraska-Omaha    22  17 10- 5- 2 .647  58- 42   23 13- 8- 2 .609  81- 60
 5 Wisconsin         18  17  8- 7- 2 .529  46- 37   27 16- 8- 3 .648  93- 56
 6 Colorado College  16  16  8- 8- 0 .500  52- 44   25 13-11- 1 .540  85- 71
   Minnesota         16  16  7- 7- 2 .500  48- 49   22 10- 9- 3 .523  67- 67
 8 Alaska Anchorage  14  17  6- 9- 2 .412  37- 49   21  7-11- 3 .405  51- 64
 9 St. Cloud State   13  15  6- 8- 1 .433  39- 42   23 10-11- 2 .478  63- 68
10 Bemidji State     12  17  5-10- 2 .353  38- 46   23  9-12- 2 .435  53- 58
11 Minnesota State   11  17  4-10- 3 .324  42- 60   25 10-10- 5 .500  76- 79
12 Michigan Tech      3  15  1-13- 1 .100  30- 68   23  3-17- 3 .196  55-102

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Justin Fontaine joined Minnesota Duluth’s top 25 career scorers, Kenny Reiter earned his second shutout in three games and freshman winger J.T. Brown broke a scoring drought with three points.

That added up to a 5-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association men’s victory Friday night as No. 3-ranked UMD extended Michigan Tech’s winless streak to 19 games in front of a crowd of 2,010 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

The Bulldogs (16-5-3 and 11-4-2 WCHA) broke open a scoreless game with goals 58 seconds apart early in the second period to gain a fourth straight win over the last-place Huskies (3-17-3 and 1-13-1). Michigan Tech is 0-17-2 since Oct. 16 and has lost 13 straight league games.

Senior left winger Fontaine had two goals and an assist, and ranks No. 25 in program scoring with 55 goals and 84 assists for 139 points in 141 games, moving ahead of Olympian John Harrington who had 65-73-138 in 134 games from 1975-79. Linemate Brown had gone eight games without a point before delivering the game-winning goal at 4:07 of the second period.

“Our main focus was to play a complete game, which we didn’t do against Wisconsin (losing 3-2 last Saturday in Duluth),” said Brown, a right winger. “We started a little slow, but once we got our legs going, we played well.

“Things had been slow for me and I just didn’t want to think about it, because then it gets worse. Now you hope the floodgates open.”

The game was 0-0 after one period before Brown’s shot from the right circle beat Michigan Tech goalie Kevin Genoe to the near side. Genoe, seeing his first action since Dec. 17, hardly had time to catch his breath. Travis Oleksuk centered from behind the net to left winger Fontaine in the slot and he put a shot inside the left post at 5:05.

With 3:13 left in the second period, an accurate Fontaine backhand attempt made it 3-0.

For the game, UMD led 27-14 in shots on goal – the fewest shots allowed in a game this season.

“Duluth is a top-ranked team for a reason and we just didn’t take care of the front of the net,” said Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell. “This is sounding like a broken record, but we have too many freshmen playing too many minutes in critical roles, and we miss experienced players who are out with injuries.”

Michigan Tech scoring leader Milos Gordic is out and sorely missed on power plays, a strength for the Huskies. Michigan Tech was blanked on three man-advantage shifts and was held without a goal for the second straight game and fourth this season. The Huskies, allowing 4.41 goal a game, had eight freshmen in the lineup.

After getting no even-strength goals last weekend against the Badgers, the Bulldogs had four Friday. Jack Connolly had the only two goals of the third period, chopping a shot from the crease up and over Genoe, and connecting on a power play with 7:15 to play. UMD’s scoring leader has 34 points in 24 games.

UMD had its most one-sided victory since a 6-0 home win over Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 23.

“After we got going, halfway through the first period, all of our lines played well. We had some beautiful goals, we found some little areas with the puck, and we had good hustle,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin, whose team is 4-1 in January. “Defensively we disrupted a lot of what Michigan Tech tried.”

Reiter, in a third straight start, gained his fifth career shutout and saw his season record go to 9-3-2 with a .913 save percentage and 2.21 goals-against average. He and the Bulldogs shut out Wisconsin 2-0 last Friday. He said UMD wasn’t leery of facing a team that hasn’t won for such a long time.

“You can’t assume anything in the WCHA and you especially can’t assume to win,” said Reiter. “We allowed almost no Grade A shots and played much of the game like a well-oiled machine. We wanted to play at a high level.”

The win moved UMD into a tie for second in the WCHA with North Dakota, which lost 8-4 at home to Nebraska-Omaha. Denver took over the league lead with a 3-2 home win over Alaska Anchorage. Denver has 25 points and UMD and North Dakota 24.

Minnesota Duluth……………. 0-3-2—5

Michigan Tech……………….. 0-0-0—0

First period — No scoring. Penalty — Daniel Sova, Michigan Tech (interference), 17:46.

Second period — 1. UMD, J.T. Brown 6 (Joe Basaraba, Brady Lamb), 4:07; 2. UMD, Justin Fontaine 14 (Travis Oleksuk, Brown), 5:05; 3. UMD, Fontaine 15 (Oleksuk, Brown), 16:47. Penalties — Trent Palm, UMD (interference), 8:39; Jack Connolly, UMD (too many men on ice), 12:59; Alex MacLeod, Michigan Tech (holding), 19:14.

Third period — 4. UMD, Jack Connolly 10 (David Grun, Mike Connolly), 5:45; 5. UMD, J. Connolly (Justin Faulk, Fontaine), 12:45 (pp). Penalties — Tommy Brown, Michigan Tech (hooking), 11:58; Keegan Flaherty, UMD (cross-checking), 14:47; Brad Stebner, Michigan Tech (holding), 17:30; Steven Seigo, Michigan Tech (elbowing), 19:29.

Shots on goal — UMD 10-10-7—27; Michigan Tech 4-4-6—14. Goalies — Kenny Reiter (9-3-2), UMD  (14 shots-14 saves); Kevin Genoe (2-9-1), Michigan Tech (27 shots-22 saves). Power plays — UMD 1-of-5, Michigan Tech 0-of-3. Referees — Peter Friesema, Max Battimo. Linesmen — Mike Gulenchyn, Matt Gerlach. A — 2,010.

Minnesota Duluth arrived in the snowy Upper Peninsula in Houghton, Mich., on Thursday and faces Michigan Tech in 6:07 p.m. games Friday and Saturday at John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

First-line right winger David Grun is profiled in Friday’s News Tribune here.

UMD’s lineup looks to be identical to the one used last weekend versus Wisconsin, with senior winger Kyle Schmidt out about another two weeks with a broken hand.

The UMD women debut at Amsoil Arena on Friday and Saturday at 7:07 p.m. against top-ranked Wisconsin. UMD senior defenseman Jocelyne Larocque is profiled in the News Tribune in a story here.

U.S. College Hockey Online makes predictions on the weekend WCHA men’s series here.

The top series of the weekend looks to be newcomer Nebraska-Omaha playing at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., for the first time. Omaha and coach Dean Blais started the season fast, have faded a bit, and will be fighting to stay in the WCHA home-ice and NCAA tournament picture against No. 2-ranked North Dakota. The Omaha World Herald has a preview here.

The talk this week in Division I has been a tweaking of the criteria used to choose the NCAA tournament field for men and women. Todd Milewski of U.S. College Hockey Online details the Ice Hockey Committee’s changes to the Pairwise Rankings in-depth here.

Chris Dilks of Western College Hockey also gives the chances a thorough review here.

In the women’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association, top-ranked Wisconsin brings a 10-game win streak to Amsoil Arena on Friday and Saturday to face defending NCAA champion Minnesota Duluth. The series will mark the first games in the building for the UMD women. The News Tribune had an update Thursday and some UMD men’s notes here.

Amsoil Arena will host the 2012 NCAA Division I women’s tournament. Amsoil also put in a bid for the 2012 women’s World Championships, but that tournament is going to Burlington, Vt. That story from the Burlington Free Press is here.

The Grand Forks Herald is reporting a tentative non-conference game next season in Winnipeg, Manitoba, between North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha. That story is here.

Inside College Hockey cranks up the Hobey Baker Memorial Award talk with three front-running candidates, none from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. That story is here.

The Atlanta Thrashers have recalled center Tim Stapleton from Chicago in the American Hockey League. A press release is here.