By Nate Ewell

Minnesota Duluth’s early season gauntlet won’t see the Bulldogs face a team outside the preseason Top 20 until after Election Day, and the No. 4 Bulldogs host No. 5/6 Notre Dame in the most compelling series this weekend. Already 2-0-2 after two ties at UMass Lowell, UMD gets a boost this weekend with the debut of first-round draft pick Riley Tufte (Blaine, Minn./Blaine HS/DAL), who missed the first four games while recovering from a broken wrist. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Tufte should give a boost to an offense that has outscored its opponents 15-8.
Friday’s game is on FOX Sports North/FOX College Sports

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RIT on the big stage – RIT senior goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, N.Y./Cedar Rapids-USHL) leads the Tigers into their annual homecoming game at the downtown Blue Cross Arena Saturday against Connecticut. Rotolo and classmate Garrett McMullen (Churchville, N.Y./Trail-BCHL) are the two locals on the Tigers looking to build upon a five-game unbeaten streak at Blue Cross Arena that includes the last two Atlantic Hockey championships. RIT is hoping for a seventh straight homecoming sellout at the 13,000-seat arena.

UW’s unlikely hero – A two-goal game from senior defenseman Corbin McGuire (Ridgefield, Conn./Jersey-EJHL) led Wisconsin to the first win under its new coaching staff, a seemingly unlikely hero for the Badgers. McGuire entered the season with five career goals and had played forward until an emergency position change in January. Skating alongside heralded freshman JD Greenway (Canton, N.Y./U.S. NTDP/TOR), Corbin had three goals on six shots and a +2 rating in the weekend split with Northern Michigan. The Badgers host Boston College for two games this weekend.
Wisconsin State Journal: For McGuire, position change opens door | Friday’s game is on FOX Sports Wisconsin & NESN. Sunday’s game is on ESPNU

SLU’s experienced D – Few teams, if any, boast the experienced defense of St. Lawrence, where new head coach Mark Morris rolled out three seniors in front of junior goaltender Kyle Hayton (Denver, Colo./Sioux City-USHL) in last weekend’s split at Penn State. Among them are a pair of two-time all-ECAC Hockey selections in Gavin Bayreuther (Canaan, N.H./Fargo-USHL) and Eric Sweetman (Woodbine, Md./Youngstown-USHL). The coach may be new but the cupboard is hardly bare in Canton, where the Saints host New Hampshire and Merrimack this weekend.

Most Senior Defensemen on Roster
4 – Minnesota Duluth, Princeton, St. Lawrence
3 – Colgate, Michigan Tech, Providence, Sacred Heart, Vermont

Proud Islander at BSU – Bemidji State’s Brett Beauvais (Summerside, P.E.I./Penticton-BCHL) identifies himself as a “Proud Islander” in his Twitter bio. Prince Edward Island should be proud of him as well, as Beauvais is the lone P.E.I. native in the Division I ranks this season. He had points in both games last weekend as the Beavers avenged their playoff loss to Bowling Green with a series sweep. Beauvais – an NHL free agent – recorded five of his six points last season in the second half, as Bemidji State closed the season on a 12-7-3 run. The former first-team All-BCHL selection has shown offensive ability in the past, recording 58 points for Penticton in 2013-14.

Rocky Mountain homecomings – A pair of Hockey East teams travel to Colorado this weekend for intriguing matchups with NCHC foes – both in the old stomping grounds of their head coaches. In Denver, Boston University visits the Pioneers for a top-10 clash in the city where Terrier head coach David Quinn was an assistant for the NHL’s Avalanche. In Colorado Springs, former Colorado College assistant coach Norm Bazin brings his No. 7/8 UMass Lowell team to face the Tigers.

NHL Note of the Week

More than 200 NCAA alumni made opening-night NHL rosters, including 14 who played college hockey last season, six more than made that leap a year ago.

Congrats to the 14 first-year pros who made @NHL opening night rosters! https://t.co/3GNqabsHdN

— College Hockey Inc. (@collegehockey) October 12, 2016

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

Four Atlantic Hockey teams will play at current or recent AHL buildings this weekend; AIC and Sacred Heart both moved into new home rinks this year … Air Force became the first school from Atlantic Hockey to win the Ice Breaker Tournament last weekend … 39 active players have a hat trick in their career; Holy Cross’s T.J. Moore (Edina, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret’s), who had two last weekend and has three in his career, is the only player with more than one … Canisius and Omaha visit Fairbanks to play the two Alaska schools this weekend in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush … Minnesota State’s Cole Huggins (Centennial, Colo./Coquitlam-BCHL) posted his 11th career shutout last weekend, most of any active goaltender … Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn./Waterloo-USHL/VAN), who shares the national lead at +5, will appear on SiriusXM’s Hockey on Campus this weekend.