MICHIGAN WOLVERINES: The Under-18 Team continues its 2024-25 Kroger College Series schedule with the annual showdown against Michigan Friday night in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines have gotten off to a 3-2-1 start through six games on the season, including a split last weekend against St. Cloud State on home ice. 

Michael Hage has led the team in points through the beginning of the campaign, as the Chicago Steel alum has netted four goals and added three assists for seven points in six games. Garrett Schifsky has potted a team-high five goals and sits second with six points. TJ Hughes' four helpers leads the Wolverines.

On the back end, NTDP alum Tyler Duke leads defensemen with two goals and three points, while his .286 shot percentage is tied for tops on the Michigan roster.

In net, it has been a dead even split between Cameron Korpi and Logan Stein. The former owns a 1-1-1 record in his three starts, with a 2.28 goals-against average and .915 SV%.

Stein is 2-1-0 in his three appearances, with a slightly better 2.00 GAA and .925 SV%.

In addition to Duke, three other Wolverines are NTDP alums - forward Christian Humphreys, defenseman Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen and Michigan captain, Jacob Truscott. 

The NTDP will be looking for its fifth career win over UM in the 24th all-time meeting.

DUBUQUE FIGHTING SAINTS: The U17s hit the road to Iowa this weekend for a pair of contests against the Dubuque Fighting Saints to continue their USHL schedule.

Dubuque sits tied atop the USHL's Eastern Conference with a 6-3-0-0 record, good for 12 points in nine games played.

The Fighting Saints have an incredibly deep roster, already seeing nine different skaters pot multiple goals on the season, led by Michael Barron's five scores.

Barron (5G-4A), Gavin Cornforth (4G-5A) and Colin Frank (2G-7A) are tied on top of the team leaderboard with nine points apiece, while Heikki Ruohonen is right behind with eight (4G-4A) in his nine games.

On the blue line, 2004-born Josh Niedermayer, son of Hall of Famer Scott, leads Dubuque and all USHL defensemen with eight points. Aiding is Matthew Desiderio, t-6th in league defensemen with six points.

The Saints have been running a trio of goalies through the cage to start the season - Dylan Johnson, Jan Spunar and Liam Beerman have all seen multiple games of action. Johnson's GAA is best at 2.51, while Spunar has seen the most time of the three and leads with a .915 SV% in his four appearances.

The two games will be the lone matchups between Dubuque and the U17s this season. 

ADRIAN BULLDOGS: The U18s stay in-state and take the hour drive southwest to Arrington Ice Arena to take on the Adrian Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.

After opening the season being ranked No. 3 in the USCHO.com hockey poll,  Adrian will open its season Friday night in Indiana as they play Trine University before playing host to the NTDP.

Head Coach Adam Phillips is in his first season at the helm in Adrian, taking over for Adam Krug, who had been the Bulldogs' bench boss for the past decade. Krug left this offseason to become an assistant coach with the AHL's Bakersfield Condors.

Adrian lost last season's three leading scorers, but still returns a nucleus of their offensive attack. Bradley Somers' 38 points from 2023-24 are tops among returners while Ryan Pitoscia's 14 tallies are back, which was good enough for third on the team in goal scoring. Junior forward Jake Suede, named the captain of this year's team, put up 34 points (12G-22A) in 32 games last year.

In net, all three of last year's netminders are back including Dershawn Stewart, back for his fifth season in Adrian. He tended the goal in 29 games last year and put up a studly 1.79 GAA and .936 SV%. 

Team USA holds an all-time 14-6-0 record against Adrian. Saturday's game is the lone Division III contest on this year's Kroger College Series slate for the U18s.