By Nate Ewell

North Dakota visits Minnesota Duluth this weekend in the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in October since Dany Heatley and Wisconsin beat Brian Gionta and Boston College in 2000-01 (a game that featured 14 future NHLers). The Fighting Hawks are fueled by sophomore Brock Boeser (Burnsville, Minn./Waterloo-USHL/VAN), who scored five goals in a sweep of Bemidji State last weekend. Boeser, a first-round Vancouver Canucks pick, returned to school to defend North Dakota’s NCAA championship and compete in series like this, where he will face a talented and experienced defense corps that has led the Bulldogs to a 3-1-2 start.
Grand Forks Herald: No. 1 vs. No. 2 games since 2000 (Thanks to Brad Schlossman for the research) | Friday’s game is on FOX Sports North

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Fast start for Army West Point – Army West Point is 2-0-0 in Atlantic Hockey for the first time in eight years and the Black Knights didn’t allow a goal in the two wins. Senior Parker Gahagen (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo-OJHL) – who led the nation in save percentage a year ago – headlines an impressive group of returnees that includes nine of the team’s top 10 scorers a year ago. Gahagen’s development has mirrored that of the Army West Point program, which was a goal away from the Atlantic Hockey championship game last season.

Yates making progress – The six Ivy League programs begin play this weekend and one that appears poised for a breakthrough could be Cornell. The Big Red were 16-11-7 last year and return the bulk of their top performers, plus a few who look ready to make a leap. Junior Trevor Yates (Beaconsfield, Quebec/Deerfield Academy) is among those and produced a team-high five points in two exhibition games last weekend. Yates has size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) and hockey pedigree – his father, Ross, played in the NHL and has coached for years, currently with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs.

Payne leads NMU – Junior Robbie Payne (Gaylord, Mich./Chicago-USHL) leads Northern Michigan into its rivalry series against Michigan Tech with a five-point game under his belt already this season – one of only six across Division I. Payne – who hails from Gaylord, Mich., a town of 3,600 in the northern part of the state’s Lower Peninsula – is the second person from his county to play Division I hockey after Will Weber (Miami, 2008-12). He may also be the only NCAA Division I men’s player to have conducted a Reddit AMA.

Second-generation Wolverine – The loss of last year’s “CCM Line” – all of whom were named first-team All-Big Ten – hasn’t crippled Michigan’s offense, and the contributions of freshmen Will Lockwood (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./U.S. NTDP/VAN) and Jake Slaker (San Diego, Calif./Bloomington-USHL) are a big part of that. Will is a second-generation player, not just at Michigan, but for head coach Red Berenson. His father, Joe, was a freshman on Berenson’s first Michigan team in 1984-85 and played four years for the now-33-year coach. Will had a goal and an assist in each game last weekend against Michigan Tech and shares the team lead with Slaker with six points through five games.

No curse here – Forgive the 84 Illinois natives in Division I – a record number – if they’ve got one eye on the Cubs these days. Vermont freshman Stefanos Lekkas (Ellburn, Ill./Sioux Falls-USHL) is one of those, and Saturday tweeted, “First college win and the Cubs move on to the series. Good day.” Lekkas – who has an Illinois license plate on the back of his goalie mask – teams with senior Mike Santaguida (Mississauga, Ont./Surrey-BCHL) to give the Catamounts a formidable tandem in net.

Illinois Natives in NCAA Men’s Division I

NHL Note of the Week

The 13 NCAA alumni among the Pittsburgh Penguins players whose names were etched in the Stanley Cup matched an all-time record originally set by the 1995 New Jersey Devils.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

Michigan’s 20th anniversary of the 1996 NCAA championship team was celebrated in truly unbelievable style … The Wolverines’ visit to Dartmouth Saturday marks a rematch of the first NCAA championship game, in 1948 … Saturday’s Harvard at Arizona State game will be the first college hockey game streamed live on Twitter.