GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- And so we head into the final four weeks of regular-season play remaining for the UND Fighting Hawks hockey team and it is hard not to like on what we have seen so far.

With four home game remaining and four on the road, there are lots of reasons to believe that the Hawks, now alone in first place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), can claim their fifth league title in the last seven seasons.

I continue to be impressed by what this team has accomplished with basically a revamped coaching staff and a roster highlighted by 10 freshmen and five transfers from other colleges.

That it has all come together so well this season is remarkable. At this point in the season, UND is one of just four schools in college hockey with 20 or more wins, joining Michigan, Michigan State and Quinnipiac in that elite company.

It's a tribute to the coaching staff for putting it all together this season. As well, certainly much credit must go to the depth and balance found on this team, without a single player in the 40 in scoring nationally.

While lacking that, this team does not lack in quality depth, starting with freshman Jan Špunar and grad student Gibson Homer in goal.

The defensive corps is solid as well, highlighted by Jake Livanavage, who reminds me of former UND great James Patrick with his smooth skating style.

This is a team that can beat you in many ways, with a solid offense and a very good defense that can shut down or slow down most any team.

The Hawks can turn the NCHC race into a two-team affair this weekend if UND can sweep the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in Duluth. If UND does that, only Western Michigan would be in position to battle UND for the league title.

And those two teams, the Fighting Hawks and Broncos, meet for the only time the last weekend of the regular season on WMU's home ice. 

But that's getting of the game. UND split with UMD earlier in the season in Grand Forks, but the Bulldogs have dropped off the pace recently. Even so, you know ex-UND defenseman Scott Sandelin will have his team ready for his alma mater.

It'll be interesting to see how UND comes out of its bye weekend last week. Will the Hawks show some rust from that layoff? Or will the weekend off refresh the team and perhaps help some injured players heal their wounds?

So many questions, so few concrete answers.

So drop the puck and the answers will play out on the ice, as it should be.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 seasons, prior to his retirement from the newspaper in 2005. Since then, he writes a weekly column for UND Athletic Communications during the hockey season.