Weekly Preview Michigan and Notre Dame collide in a home and home battle

This weekends big battle is a home and home series in the CCHA as #5 Notre Dame faces #7 Michigan.

Notre Dame goaltender David Brown will have a tough task this weekend facing the #1 offensive team in the CCHA. Led by T.J. Hensick, the Wolverines are averaging about 4.4 goals per game. Although Michigan only has four players with 10+ goals, the Wolverines have five players with 20+ points already, and those five are averaging more than one point per game.

On the other side of the ice for Michigan they need to find a way to play better defense. Goaltender Billy Sauer is 11-5, however, he has allowed 52 goals and his goals against average is 3.31. The Fighting Irish only have one player with 10+ goals in Mark Van Guilder. Michigan will need to look out for Van Guilder as he is known to get on a hot streak at any point of the season.

This is a battle of mismatches as Notre Dame is strong defensively, but lately have not found a way to put the puck in the net. This is the exact opposite for Michigan as we all know they are strong offensively, but on defense the Wolverines cannot stop the puck from going into the net. Should be a great home and home series beginning tommorrow.

The other top games include:

North Dakota will host Wisconsin. While North Dakota is having an up and down year, the Wisconsin Badgers are the exact opposite and are looking for wins in a hurry.

Boston College will face UMASS-Amherst in a home and home series in Hockey East action.

Colgate travels to St. Cloud State for two games.

And New Hampshire will look to continue its unbeaten streak to 12 (10-0-1 in their last 11) as the Wildcats will host St. Lawrence.

Other games to watch out for this weekend:

Alaska Anchorage @ Colorado College (2 games)
Michigan State @ Northern Michigan (2 games)
Minnesota @ Michigan Tech (2 games)

As mentioned we are getting closer to the midway point, and by the first week of January Bracketology returns on hockeynuts. There will be more things to talk about in college hockey throughout the year so keep it here for all your college hockey needs.