GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Two weeks into the hockey season for UND, several simple words come to mind when I evaluate what this team has shown against Bemidji State and Bentley.

I would begin with "Balance.'' This team has that in spades, as shown by over half of the skaters logging a goal or an assist -- or a combination of both -- in the games we have seen so far at Ralph Engelstad Arena

I would then jump to "Depth.'' The balanced scoring certainly factors into that in a big way, but we see it in goaltending as well. Rookie Caleb Heil certainly jumped to our attention with two shutouts in his first two college games, 30 total shots faced in 120 minutes, 0 goals allowed. Nice.

Sophomore goalie Jan Spunar played against a stronger opponent the week before and logged two wins over Bemidji State. He looked very good doing that. So "Goaltending'' is another word that comes to mind when I look at the strengths of this team.

So as the season inches closer to the start of league play, Coach Dane Jackson has a nice problem to figure out -- who plays against the Minnesota Gophers this weekend, Heil or Spunar -- or both?

My guess is that both will get a start against the Gophers, and perhaps that will clear up the picture a bit for Jackson. Or not.

A goalie rotation may well continue deep into the season, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is nice problem to have, two young and excellent goalies on the roster and one already on the recruited list for a season yet to be determined.

UND will get a better evaluation goaltending status and that of the entire roster in the next three weekends, starting with the upcoming games at Mariucci Arena Thursday and Friday.

Following that, there is a single game against national power Michigan State in the Hall of Fame Game in Austin, Texas, a week from this Saturday, another early challenge.

Then comes a big home series against another national power, Western Michigan, which figures to battle it out with UND and Denver, and maybe Duluth, this season for National Collegiate Hockey Conference honors -- and national ranking as well.

But from what we have seen of UND this season, it is a roster of great promise and young talent. It will need to mature in a hurry to handle the Gophers, Spartans and then the Broncos of Western Michigan.

On paper, the line centered by Cole Reschny with Jack Kernan and Will Zellers on his flanks, looks like an all-sophomore combo that should be a most explosive unit and a very dangerous group to contain. But in the early season when coaches experiment with line combinations to find the right mix, we don't know how long that grouping stays together.

While North Dakota and Minnesota are no longer the heated rivals they were when they were both in the same league, it is still a contested series. UND has nearly half its roster on any given night consisting of players who came here from the state of Minnesota, so that adds to the spark of this series.

For myself, I spend much of my boyhood years living in Minnesota, so I followed the Gophers and knew very little about UND. My family moved to Grand Forks when I was in junior high and my Dad took me to my first Sioux-Gopher game at the old Winter Sports Center. 

Not knowing better, I sat next to my Dad and began cheering for the Gophers. He was a new pastor in town and having his son rooting for Minnesota didn't sit well with him. He told me to either cheer for UND or go find a place to sit by myself, away from him.

Years later, I landed a sportswriting job at the Grand Forks Herald and those words of wisdom from my Dad came home to roost -- I began backing UND teams when I came here in 1969, and I still do.

I won't be at Mariucci Arena this weekend, but my heart will be -- decked out in green-and-white!

Virg Foss writes a weekly column exclusively for UND Media Relations during hockey season. He's written for UND Athletic Communications ever since his retirement from the Grand Forks Herald in 2005. He can be contacted at virgfoss@yahoo.com or at (701) 213-6866.