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What: Western Collegiate Hockey Association series between the Gophers (6-3-1) and Bulldogs (7-2-1)

When: 3:37 p.m. today;3:07 p.m. Sunday

Where: DECC
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Rankings: Minnesota is No. 6 and UMD is No. 4 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll

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Minnesota Duluth already has experienced some highs and lows in just six weeks of the college women’s hockey season.

On Nov. 3-4, UMD beat North Dakota 9-2 with aseason-high scoring output and followed that up with a3-2 win.

On Oct. 26-27, the then-top-ranked Bulldogs were swept by No. 10 Minnesota one week after UMD beat and tied No. 2 Mercyhurst.

UMD (7-2-1) hopes for a more steady performance today in opening a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series against Minnesota(6-3-1) at 3:37 p.m. at the DECC.

“It has a lot to do with the attitude,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “We were brilliant against Mercyhurst and it completely eluded us the next weekend [against the Gophers]. We have to focus.”

UMD had outscored opponents 20-2 entering theMinnesota series in Minneapolis — and lost 5-1 and 3-1.

“We want revenge,” UMD sophomore goalie Kim Martin said. “We didn’t play well last time. I think we always have a hard time playing them [at Ridder Arena]. They are a good team and hard to beat. We were No. 1 and we should have played better.”

“We need our defense to play a lot better,” Miller said. “We need to do a better job of [redirecting] the puck carrier. We need to challenge.”

Miller wants the Bulldogs to be aggressive against Minnesota freshman goalie Jenny Lura, who has a .911 save percentage and 1.84 goals-against average.

“We have to bring speed and aggression to the net and get to rebounds,” Miller said. “We have to work it up with our defense and have traffic in front of the net against a good goalie.”

The Bulldogs had six freshmen in the lineup against Minnesota three weeks ago.

“We have a young team that hasn’t played in college where every game is important,” Martin said. “We have a talented team and coach [Miller] is trying to make us understand that each game is important.”

The No. 4-ranked Bulldogs return four players from last week’s the Four Nations Cup in Leksand, Sweden, while No. 6 Minnesota has three players back.

UMD to add Two Recruits

Lana Steck of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kacy Ambroz of New Prague, Minn., are expected to sign national letters of intent with UMD this week.

Ambroz had 46 goals and 36 assists as a junior forward last season on the New Prague High School team.

Steck was a goalie for Team Manitoba in the 2007 Canada Winter Games.