[media-credit name=’Minnesota Sports Information’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The No. 5 Wisconsin men's hockey team (5-1-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) travels to Minneapolis to take on No. 4 Minnesota (5-2-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) this weekend as the two teams resume one of the top rivalries in college hockey. The Friday/Saturday series will be played at Mariucci Arena with a 7:07 start time both nights.

For the Badgers, it will be their first road test of the season after jumping out to a quick 5-1-0 start, including a five-game winning streak to start the season. The fast start has propelled Wisconsin into second place in the WCHA, but the road trip to Minnesota will be a whole new challenge for the young Badgers.

"That's the beauty of sport, it's a test and it shows you where you're at and if you can handle that type of thing," head coach Mike Eaves said. "Because ultimately, you know what, when you're playing for a national championship you have to learn to deal with situations like that."

The Gophers have had similar success to start the season as they have also earned six points in the WCHA to share second place with the Badgers. With both teams playing good hockey right now, the series will provide insight into the conference's strength.

Minnesota comes into the weekend after sweeping Minnesota State last weekend. The Gophers' offense was clicking in the first game, as they routed the Mavericks by a score of 9-2. The series tightened up a bit Saturday night, as Minnesota prevailed 3-2 in overtime. The wins extended the Gophers home winning streak to a school-record 13 games.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, suffered its first loss of the season after getting off to the second best start in school history, falling to Denver by a score of 5-3 during the Saturday matchup. The defending national champions avenged a 6-3 Friday night loss to Wisconsin, in which the Badgers scored three unanswered third period goals to break a 3-3 deadlock.

In what could very well be an offensive extravaganza, both Wisconsin and Minnesota are ranked in the top 10 nationally on offense. The Badgers are ranked second in the country and first in the WCHA scoring 5.00 goals per game — quite a feat considering that last season they mustered only 2.86 goals per game.

The Gopher offense has scored 4.00 goals per game this season to rank eighth nationally and fourth in the WCHA.

One of the similarities between the two clubs is the production both are getting out of their underclassmen.

The Badgers' sophomore class has produced 38 points so far this season, led by Robbie Earl who is fourth in the nation with 11 points. Tied for the team lead with 11 points is freshman Joe Pavelski, who leads all freshmen scorers.

The Minnesota freshmen have led the Gophers so far this year, picking up 26 points already. The sophomore class has picked up 20 points so far this season, led by Ryan Potulny's 11. Potulny is also the nation's leading goal-scorer, having put the puck in the net seven times.

Defensively, Minnesota has held opponents to just 1.86 goals per game, a figure that ranks them second in the WCHA and fifth nationally. One of the reasons that the Gopher defense has been so tough on opponents this season has been sophomore goaltender Kellen Briggs who has been a wall in between the pipes.

"Briggs has been very solid, making the saves he should and then making two or three that, you know, he really shouldn't," Eaves said. "So he's giving them a chance to do the things they're doing."

The Badger defense has been nearly as good, giving up just 2.17 goals per game so far this year. While goaltender Bernd Brückler hasn't played at the All-American level that he played at a year ago, it wasn't until this time a season ago that he really got on a roll in front of the net for Wisconsin.

With both teams coming into the weekend with top-five national rankings and near the top of the WCHA leaderboard, it will, as always, be a heated contest between the two rivals. Having played and coached in the rivalry, Eaves knows that this will be a great test for his young Badgers.

"I think we talked about this the other day just because it is such a great rivalry," Eaves said of his first experience with the Minnesota/Wisconsin rivalry. "But again, as an 18-year-old freshman myself, it was a Gong Show."