Wisconsin Week

In my column this week, I wrote about Mavericks goaltender Mike Zacharias and his rock-solid start so far this season.

MSU is in for a nice test this weekend as the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers come to town. I know for a fact that Friday's student section is already sold out, and I expect the same for Saturday's game as well. I meant to go to the box office and find out the status of general public tickets, but it completely slipped my mind. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple 4,500+ attendance numbers this weekend. Should be fun.

MSU head coach Troy Jutting said today that he will play the same line combinations as he did in last Saturday night's win over UMD. That includes sophomore Ryan Gunderson, who Jutting put into the line-up first time this season.

"I thought he did a very nice job," Jutting said. "He played within himself and did everything we asked him to do."

The same line-up also means freshman defenseman Channing Boe will find himself in the press box - at least for Friday. Jutting made no promises for Saturday's group.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, comes to Mankato riding the momentum of a pair of comeback wins over St. Cloud State last weekend in Madison. The Wisconsin State Journal's Andy Baggot wrote a good article today on sophomore forward Blake Geoffrion. Capital Times beatwriter Todd D. Milewski has a story on goaltender Shane Connelly.

PREDICTION
I'll go with a Wisconsin victory on Friday 3-2 and a Minnesota State win Saturday 4-1.

In other WCHA action...
- Minnesota at North Dakota UND SWEEP
- Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota-Duluth UMD SWEEP
- Denver at St. Cloud State SPLIT

I will be at Alltel Center for both games with scoring updates and intermission commentaries. Thanks for coming by!