Another exciting weekend of college hockey is just around the corner with six of the seven Big Ten teams set to play. Let’s take a look around the Big Ten and preview some of the best matchups this weekend.

Starting out with Notre Dame, they’ll host RIT for a two-game series just before the start of the weekend on Thursday. The Fighting Irish have jumped out to a 3-0 start where they have won by three goals in two of those matchups.

Senior Cam Burke has led the way for Notre Dame to start the season with three goals in those four games. The RIT series will end a streak of five straight non-conference games for the Fighting Irish to open up the season before traveling to Minnesota.

On that same day, the Penn State Nittany Lions will play the first series after their bye week last week as they host Niagara. The Nittany Lions have jumped out to a 3-1 start with a series sweep over LIU and a split against Canisius.

Freshman Danny Dzhaniyev may be the biggest surprise for Penn State as he has recorded five points during the first four games of the season.

The biggest series of the weekend might be played in the state of Minnesota as the Golden Gophers take on Minnesota Duluth. Both teams are ranked inside the top five in the country with Minnesota at No. 4 and Minnesota Duluth at No. 5.

The Golden Gophers have a 3-1 record so far this season with their only loss coming against No. 3 St. Cloud State. Four Golden Gophers have five points or more to start the season with senior Blake McLaughlin leading the way with seven points and six assists.

The previously mentioned St. Cloud State team will face Wisconsin this weekend. Following a shocking sweep against Michigan Tech in the Badgers’ opening series, they responded with a sweep of their own beating Army.

Moving further up in the rankings, the new top ranked Michigan Wolverines will head on the road to face in-state opponent No. 17 Western Michigan. The Wolverines have jumped out to a 4-0 start to open things up which includes wins against Minnesota Duluth and No. 2 Minnesota State.

That Minnesota State game featured two third-period goals from the Wolverines which allowed them to pull off a comeback 3-2 win with goals from Thomas Bordeleau and Brendan Brisson.

Finally, the Michigan State Spartans travel to take on UMass Lowell. The Spartans enter the series coming off a sweep against Miami of Ohio and are on a three game winning streak dating back to their prior game against Air Force.

Logan Bourandas is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.