The last time UND and Minnesota played each other, it ended in a triple overtime loss for the Green and White.

This weekend’s series will mark the first time the two teams have faced each other this season.

Minnesota currently is undefeated with a record of 12-0-0, and the last time the team lost was against UND in an overtime loss during the 2012-13 season at Ridder Arena. The Gophers will be coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State University.

UND will be returning to play after having an off-weekend. Prior to the break, the team swept Bemidji State University.

Minnesota currently has the best power-play in the WCHA and the highest scoring defense in the nation, but UND is preparing the best it can.

“I think we’re confident just as any other weekend,” UND defenseman Samantha Hanson said. “We’re preparing the same. This is just another series for us. Obviously it’s a huge rivalry, but we’re preparing the same, and we’re just as confident as if we are playing any other team.”

Both Minnesota and UND will have different looks to their teams compared to when the teams played each other last season.

Both have lost significant players and gained new faces.

“I think that it’ll be a lot different than it was last year,” UND defenseman Sam LaShomb said. “They lost probably the best goalie in the world, and we lost Jocelyne and Monique (Lamoureux), and they lost a couple of girls to the USA Olympics. So it’s going to be a lot different and we both kind of expect that, but we’re both also kind of a different, team in different ways.”

The differences between the teams will be something for each team to get used to as they start the series on Saturday, but the atmosphere between them, however, will not change.

“It’s definitely a little more intense,” LaShomb said. “That’s to be expected since it’s a big team and you want to win. Both teams will be looking to get the edge first and will come out strong.

The games will start at 2:07 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. This will be UND’s third road trip of the season and the last before it will head back home before Thanksgiving break to face Wisconsin for the first time this season.

Mariah Holland is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].