Weekly Preview David Brown and Irish look to extend unbeaten streak against conference rival

Goaltender David Brown and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the biggest surprise so far in the first half of the college hockey season. The Irish are 8-1-1 and are unbeaten in their last 10 games. This week Notre Dame will look to extend its unbeaten streak to 12 as the Irish and the Michigan State Spartans will battle it out in a home and home series.

When mentioned in the pre-season most of the country were talking about the great play of Cory Schneider from Boston College, Ben Bishop of Maine, John Curry of Boston University, and Brian Elliott of Wisconsin as great goaltenders returning. There are more goaltenders on this list that were mentioned well before Notre Dame's David Brown. Well this year, Brown has been the best goalie in the country.

Brown's stats has been amazing through his first nine games that he has started in net. The Irish netminder is off to a 7-1-1 start and has only allowed 11 goals all season. Thats right, 11. And not to forget, Brown has a 1.20 goals against average, a .953 save pct, and two shutouts, all tops in those statistics.

While Brown has been the best player on the Irish, there are other players who have done well. In fact four players from Notre Dame have 10 or more points. Mark Van Guilder leads the way with 14 points and has been the best Notre Dame skater on the ice. Kevin Deeth and Ryan Thang, both Freshman are also playing well for the Irish.

I can go on and on about Notre Dame but let's talk about Michigan State, another top five team.

While Michigan State is only 3-2-1 in conference play, the Spartans are still one of the toughest teams in college hockey. It is true that Jeff Lerg has been shaky this year in between the pipes, but the Spartans offensive attack is helping him out. Sophomores Tim Kennedy and Tim Crowder are leading the team in scoring with a combined 21 points between the two of them. Lets not forget about Bryan Lerg too who is second on the team in goals scored. Overall the Spartans have a solid team. If the goaltending and the defense step it up then this will be a team to watch this weekend and throughout the season.

Other must-see games include:

Two Hockey East powers collide on Sunday in Orono as Maine and Boston College will battle it out. Maine is coming off a shalacking against New Hampshire at home while BC at 6-3-0 are still trying to find its identity for the season. This is a huge game for both teams with Maine's #1 ranking on the line.

Nebraska-Omaha and Miami, two high powered offenses will battle it out in Oxford.

Minnesota and Wisconsin will renew its rivalry at Marruci Arena in Minneapolis. Wisconsin can not afford a sweep while Minnesota will look to get the #1 spot in the country.

Quinnipiac and Cornell will face each other in ECACHL play.

And other games worth watching include:

Army and Holy Cross
Niagara and Bemidji State
Yale and Dartmouth
Clarkson and St. Cloud State

Who will prevail this weekend? Check out the weekly wrap-up to get all your college hockey needs on this big weekend.