Center stage - Vermont gets a bit of a late start on its regular-season schedule and does so against a team that has already made a name for itself in the early going: Minnesota, which has raced to a 4-0-0 start that includes a road sweep of defending national champion Minnesota Duluth. These games - held Friday and Sunday due to the Gophers' homecoming football game on Saturday - will both be available to viewers on FS North and NESN. Both the Gophers and Catamounts boast rosters filled with young talent, and Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon hopes his young players will respond as well as Don Lucia's at Minnesota. "The way they did it was impressive,” Sneddon told the Burlington Free Press of the Gopher sweep last weekend, “a younger team that did not succumb to pressure on the road and being down in the games in certain situations."

Also on TV - Friday: North Dakota at Wisconsin (7 p.m. CT, Fox Sports Wisconsin).

Site survey - The game may become a bit of an after-thought when Rensselaer visits Notre Dame in the inaugural game at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Ind. The beautiful new rink hosts what some speculate may be a future conference matchup with speculation that RPI could someday join Notre Dame in Hockey East. Looking back on the ice, its a second straight weekend in CCHA country for Seth Appert's Engineers, who are seeking offense after being shut out in three of their first four games. Offense hasn't been an issue for the Fighting Irish but they will be looking to clamp down defensively after allowing more than three goals per game in their first four games.

Future watch - Flip on Vancouver vs. Minnesota before you hit the rink Saturday night (4 p.m., NHL Network) if you want to see a slew of former college players. The Canucks have already suited up 11 former college players, most in the league, as they defend their Western Conference championship from 2010-11. Among those are Ryan Kesler (Ohio State), who returned from injury this week, and Chris Higgins (Yale), who helped pick up the offensive slack in Kesler's absence (five points in seven games). The Wild, meanwhile, have dressed five former college players, including leading goal scorer Matt Cullen (St. Cloud State).

In the show - Saturday's Boston-Chicago game (NHL Network) is a matchup of the last two Stanley Cup winners and - of note to college hockey fans - the last two Conn Smythe Trophy winners (Tim Thomas and Jonathan Toews). Thomas could face two fellow UVM alums, as Patrick Sharp is pursuing his sixth consecutive 20-goal season for the Blackhawks and Viktor Stalberg recently returned to practice after missing the start of the season due to injury.