The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) women’s hockey has just six regular season series left, and this weekend’s holds some of the highest stakes. The fourth ranked Bulldogs are bringing in second ranked Ohio State University. UMD opened their season sweeping the defending national champions, and have only grown since.

“Now we’re set in our lines, we feel comfortable with who we’re playing with. That’s always hard at the start of the year, figuring out that chemistry, figuring out how different people talk on the bench,” Clara Van Wieren said, a graduate student forward.

“I think that last time we played them, I think we played a little too perimeter. And so this time, our focus is going to be getting inside the dot lines and making sure that we are taking shots, no matter where the shots are coming from. If it’s dead angle shots. But if we have that lane, we got to recognize it, and we got to take it,” head coach Laura Schuler said.

The Buckeyes haven’t been swept again since their September meeting with UMD, and now sit 15-5-3. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs boast a 15-5-2 record and haven’t lost a game since November 16. In the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), UMD is 10-4-2 and Ohio State is 10-5-3.

It all starts Friday at 6pm at AMSOIL Arena, and concludes Saturday at 3pm.