Chris Miller, one of the team leaders in sports and my boss, is picking WCHA games with me this week. I probably should take it easy on him. Chris writes: Roman, aka eyeonupuk, finally asked me to match wits with him in the prognostication department … I mean, I have covered more than 500 WCHA games, it's just that they were all in the last century. So I have to prove I've kept up to date. No problem. Hey, does John MacInnes still coach Michigan Tech? And how is this up-and-coming young guy, Don Lucia, doing at Alaska-Fairbanks? By the by, I happened to watch the last meetings between Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth on Wisconsin FSN while on a treadmill at the YMCA … the Bulldawgs won both in OT, and the second came after a very questionable non-call. Wisconsin defenseman Jake Gardiner was tripped by UMD's Jack Connolly in the Badgers' zone, and the puck went directly to Bulldog defenseman Dylan Olsen at the blue line. He relayed to Travis Oleksuk, who scored with 11 ticks on the clock. Badgers TV analyst Rob Andringa was FURIOUS. He hadn't been that mad since his playing days, when Jeff Sauer instituted a 3 a.m. curfew. Anywho, the Badgers apparently have lots of revenge going for them this weekend at the DECC. Full disclosure – my son played youth soccer with Jack Connolly on a team coached by Jack's dad, Mark; Travis Oleksuk is the son of one of my college friends, Bill Oleksuk. So the way I saw it, clean play all the way. Let's get started before Roman starts chopping my quality comments. Wisconsin at UMD Chris: Had a chance to tour the new Duluth rink -- Amsoil Arena -- last weekend. Was in town for a wedding, the reception was downtown, so I skipped over to watch the second period of the UMD game vs. the Under 18s. Duluth News-Tribune beat writer Kevin Pates and I were quite excited to see each other, as it was Elvis Presley's birthday, Kevin's favorite non-holiday. The new rink is nice and, I must report, easy to talk your way into. The Bulldogs should be the favorites in this series, but I see Wisconsin sneaking up on them tonight and winning in overtime 4-3 on a Podge Turnbull goal. Andy Baggot of the State Journal will write it in a poetic style, as always. Then, UMD will rebound on Saturday with a 5-2 victory, taking advantage of three checking-from-behind majors called by one of the Shepherd boys. Split Roman: Badgers are 8-1-1 since being swept by 'Dogs Nov. 19-20 at Kohl Center. Sophomore D-man Justin Schultz has 13 goals -- more than D-men on many teams have total, including Gophers. Scott Gudmandson has 1.13 gaa, .951 save percentage in last eight starts and has won seven of them. D-man Jake Gardiner had 19 shots, 14 in one game, and hit four posts in sweep of Canisius last weekend. UW on roll, but 'Dogs have two of top scorers in WCHA in Jack Connolly with 31 points and Justin Fontaine with 28. That's 1-3 in league. ... Badgers sweep Colorado College at Alaska-Anchorage Chris: Earlier this year the Tigers got blown away by the Gophers, and I thought Scotty Owens would immediately be fired. Boy was I wrong. CC has rebounded and is a top-5 team. Jaden Schwartz broke an ankle at the World Juniors, and that will hamper the Tigers, though. Dang, these series in Anchorage are always unpredictable because you never know with the Seapuppies. I see Anchorage catching the jet-lagged Tigers on Friday night and putting a 5-1 pasting on them, but then CC will rally for a 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday behind Jaden Schwartz's brother, Rylan. And then every wire service will misspell Rylan as Ryan. Split Roman: CC has won nine of its last 12 games and, especially on fire is senior forward Tyler Johnson who has game winner in Tigers' last four wins. He had seven goals and seven assists last month. CC has won two of three games with UAA this season. Host team is ninth in scoring defense, giving up 3.28 goals per game and is 10th on penalty kill in WCHA, opponents have 19 power play goals. But Seawolves have played in 13 games decided by a goal or ending in ties and have splits in four WCHA series. So few teams steamroll Seawolves. Hmm. Even without Jaden ... CC sweeps Bemidji State at Nebraska-Omaha Chris: Wait a minute, Bemidji and Omaha are in the WCHA? Why didn't anyone tell me? Back in my day, the Beavers were winning small college titles by the dozens under Bob Peters. And Omaha was more famous as, well, my birthplace. Two of my favorite coaches in this one. Tom Serratore for BSU and of course Dean Blais for Omaha. People say "Hey, Blais should coach the Gophers" but I dunno. He's pretty tough. He doesn't mess around. Some kid isn't producing, the Blaiser might throw him in the puck bin. Gopher parents might not like that. How can I choose between two of my guys? Both teams win once, with lots of fights, suspensions and penalty shots. Split. Roman: Fans of Gophers saw how good the Beavers were in the Mariucci Classic. Oh wait, only a few hundred were in the stands as BSU beat Ferris State 3-2 and Union 3-1. Tom Serratore's club has won six of last nine game. Matt Read has five goals, including two shorties, in last three games. But UNO should be primed and ready. Mavs lost two at Bemidji earlier this season. Matt Ambroz leads team with 10 goals. And Mavs are coming off bye week, so ... UNO sweeps St. Lawrence at Michigan Tech Chris: Ah, we shouldn't be having nonconference series in this league. Get St. Cloud State out of mothballs and have them play Tech. Yeah, I know, they just did. Whatever. And byes? Whose idea was that? I'll take Michigan Tech to break its long losing streak (Roman will know how long) and sweep the Larrys by identical 4-2 scores. Tech sweeps. Roman: The Huskies have lost 15 games in a row -- after a 3-0-2 start. You can look it up. [Eye should have, my memory told me 16 and that's the way I wrote it first time.] But they are 6-1-1 all-time vs. the St. Lawrence Saints. And MTech should break that losing streak soon, if not this weekend, then sometime this month. Eight of Huskies' next 10 games are at home. But against Saints, Tech will ... Split Denver at Minnesota State Chris: DU coach George Gwozdecky was playing when I first covered the WCHA, and I don't even think Troy Jutting of MSU was born. Nevertheless … Denver's in the hunt for the league title and the Mankatos are down in the standings. There's no tomorrow. It's now or never. Backs against the wall. By the way, I was in Mankato for the Gophers series, and had a cocktail with my boy Shane Frederick of the Mankato Freep after the game … at this noisy bar … and the lead singer for the band pulls out a chainsaw. Never seen that before, but you can bet I'll be back in Mankato soon. Split. Roman: The Pios swept the Mavs 3-2, 6-1 on Nov. 12-13 in Colorado. DU's penalty kill is at 83.5, third best in WCHA, and Pios have freshman Jason Zucker, a Wild draft pick, who has 14 goals, all in conference play. But Mavs are 8-2 in last 10 games and their goalie has been cooking. Phil Cook has eight games with 30 or more saves. MSU has killed 35 of 39 penalties in last eight games. ... DU sweeps. Finally, Gophers at North Dakota Chris: I still think of Gino Gasparini when I think of Sioux hockey. Gino came from the era where a lot of college hockey coaches smoked, and he was no exception. I think if I was a college coach I'd go through about five packs a day. It is a crazy job. This year, the Fighting Sioux are on top of the league and the Gophers are struggling so much they don't even like shootouts. I see NoDak peppering Kent Patterson with 56 shots tonight and winning 7-2 behind a Matt Frattin hat trick, then the Gophers coming back and turning Saturday into a big-time brawl. Gotta do it. Gotta take a stand. Still, the Sioux complete the sweep 6-3 with not one, but two empty netters. Jake Kremer has to finish in nets because Patterson gets kicked out for brawling. No handshake line because of flaring tempers, and an icy ride home for eyonupuk. Sioux sweep. Roman: Actually Eye picked this game earlier in the week and Eye am sticking with my prediction. Jay Barriball scored his 50th career goal in his last game and U captain thinks his scoring touch is back. Kent Patterson knows he is The Man for the Gophers in the nets with Alex Kangas done for season. NoDak is 14-8-3 vs. Gophers since Dave Hakstol became coach. Sioux have killed off 20 power plays in a row. Chay Genoway and Jason Gregoire both have nine points against the Gophers, the most on the team. There will be whiteout conditions at the Ralph both night, everyone is supposed to wear white. Could hurt sales of hot dogs because you have to put ketchup on dogs and you know what happens next ... splatch. Stains. As for the series ... Split.