Men’s and women’s hockey retain No. 1 ranking

The State of Hockey is coming back to full strength with the Gopher women still undefeated, the men holding the No. 1 ranking for a second consecutive week, and I don’t even need to mention the expectations riding on the Minnesota Wild this season.

While some are not surprised the women’s team is undefeated, the men have played a tremendous stretch of games of late despite losing their top scorer, Erik Haula.

The men, with a 16-3-3 overall record, and 8-3-3 in WCHA, are 6-0-1 against nationally ranked teams this season. This weekend, they take on No. 6 North Dakota in what is always a heated rivalry between two premier hockey programs.

Friday night’s game opens the series with the conclusion on Saturday, also Hockey Day Minnesota.