The 2007-08 NCAA championship banner will be raised at the Minnesota womenâÄôs hockey teamâÄôs game tonight. DuluthâÄôs championship banner. This weekend the Gophers (0-0-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, 1-1-0 overall) take on defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth (0-0-0, 2-0-0) in Duluth at 7:37 p.m. on Friday night and 7:07 p.m. Saturday night. Coach Brad Frost says that most championship banners are raised during the winning teamâÄôs first home game of the season, but some of his players donâÄôt agree. Senior Rachael Drazan thinks hanging the banner this weekend is done on purpose. âÄúThis is planned. ItâÄôs just another way [Duluth head coach] Shannon Miller likes to mess with other teams,âÄù Drazan said. âÄúShe thinks it plays to their advantage and gets us off our game but weâÄôre smart enough and weâÄôre ready to go beat them.âÄù For Drazan, the games are a little more personal. As a transfer from Duluth after the 2005-06 season, she said itâÄôs fun to go back to the place where she started her college career. For the rest of the team, the games against Duluth are always intense because the two teams always seem to be fighting for the number one and two spots in the WCHA, junior Michelle Maunu said. Last year, the Gophers ended the regular season second to the Bulldogs in the WCHA, but won the regular season series between the two teams, taking three-of-four games from the Bulldogs. Overall, the Gophers lead the series 22-16-4. Maunu said she could sense the intensity all week in practice and the veterans have told the first-years about the rivalry but not to treat this series as anything special. âÄúTheyâÄôre ready for a really intense series,âÄù she said. âÄúWe have to prepare like we would for every other game and not make too big a deal because you donâÄôt want to make the nervousness there.âÄù The intense games will spark more physical play, Drazan said. Last year there were 51 penalties called in the four games between the two teams; 23 were on the Gophers and 28 were on the Bulldogs. âÄúDuluth is a very physical, chippy team,âÄù she said. âÄúWeâÄôre going to have to be ready for that but weâÄôre not going to back down and hopefully play just as physical as they do.âÄù But more physical play could lead to more penalties. Frost said special teams will be really important and the Gophers will have to take advantage of any opportunities while keeping their emotions in check. âÄúItâÄôs always a heated battle so we donâÄôt want to take any unnecessary penalties,âÄù Frost said. Duluth is known for crashing the net but the Gophers will have first-year Alyssa Grogan in net. Last weekend, Grogan didnâÄôt let in a goal after seeing 11 shots during her 39 minutes of play. The choice to go with Grogan didnâÄôt come easily but Frost said simply, âÄúShe gives a pretty good chance to win.âÄù Grogan will be helped out by her defense, which plan on boxing out the Bulldog offense and not letting them get to the net, Drazan said. âÄúWeâÄôre going to have them go wide and take shots from outside and our goalie is going to control the rebound and not give them any,âÄù she said. On the other end of the ice, the Gophers look to use the BulldogâÄôs plan against them. Maunu said Minnesota plans to put traffic in front of DuluthâÄôs net to take away their goalieâÄôs vision. âÄúYou have to get traffic in front and make her not be able to see the puck because if she does see the puck she will be able to stop it,âÄù Maunu said. No matter what, Drazan said the team is ready for the battle. âÄú[Let them] hang their banner and let them get beat.âÄù