To get a sense of Minnesota's opponent this weekend, we asked College Hockey News Hockey East writer Scott McLaughlin to give us the low down about the Vermont Catamounts.

Minnesota makes their first regular season trip to the East Coast since 2005 this weekend when they face Vermont in a non-conference series. The Gophers are currently second in the WCHA and coming off of 3-1 win against Wisconsin

It will be a busy weekend for Minnesota college hockey as the teams near the halfway point of the season.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers finished their weekend set against the Wisconsin Badgers with a tie and a win, while the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs came away with a tie and a loss in their road trip to North Dakota.

Down 1-0 and facing a 33 second 5x3, Minnesota's penalty kill came through in a way their power play had not this weekend. It sparked the turnaround for the Gophers, who got goals from Nick Bjugstad, Tom Serratore and Kyle Rau to defeat Wisconsin 3-1

The full line combinations for both Minnesota and Wisconsin as they play the second game of their two-game series at 8 p.m. CT on BTN.

The sophomore goalie, making his second start of the season, made 41 saves as Wisconsin held off a potent Minnesota offense and killed two five minute majors. Michael Mersch scored twice for the Badgers while Zach Budish & Erik Haula scored for UMN.

Minnesota is keeping close to what worked last weekend in Anchorage, where the team took 3 of 4 points, with just a couple changes.

Minnesota and Wisconsin will play a pair starting Friday night.

The Minnesota men's hockey team's trip to Alaska highlights this weekend's schedule.