As the NCHC goes into its last games before the holiday break, there are a couple of intriguing matchups this weekend.

St. Cloud State, which is leading the conference standings, takes a road trip to Nebraska Omaha. Those two teams split their series last season in Omaha. Denver, which is in third place, travels to fourth-place Western Michigan. The Pioneers are one point ahead of the Broncos in the standings and WMU is riding a six-game winning streak.

Colorado College, which is 0-3-1 in its last four games, has a tall task in a road series at top-ranked North Dakota, which is 8-1 in its last nine games.

In a battle between two teams off to rough starts, eight-place Miami plays host to seventh-place Minnesota Duluth this weekend.

The Rink Live's Sydney Wolf and Mick Hatten preview all of those games and also take a look back at last weekend's matchups, including the top-three matchup between North Dakota and Denver, which ended up being a split.

Hatten also talks about his most surprising teams in the NCHC, one being better than expected and one being lower in the standings than expected.

And stay tuned at the end for an interview with UMD captain Luke Loheit.