Michigan State hockey has a pretty interesting test this weekend.

The fourth-ranked Spartans are going into another week where they only play one game, but it's a big one. MSU is heading to Austin, Texas, to face No. 8 North Dakota during the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game. Puck drop on Saturday is set for 8 p.m. ET on NCHC.tv.

Two Loaded Rosters

The big storyline of this matchup is that it will be one of the most talent-loaded matchups in college hockey history. Michigan State is about as good as it gets in that department, with 17 total NHL Draft picks, which ranks second in the nation, but nine of those picks are also first-rounders. There are 30 first-rounders in college this year, period, so nearly a third of them are playing for MSU.

North Dakota has plenty of draft picks to boast, too. The Fighting Hawks have 14 total, with four of them being first-round talents. Canadian defenseman Carson Carels is the highest draft pick on UND's roster, going sixth overall this year to the Calgary Flames. He's got four assists in North Dakota's six games so far.

"They're a really good team: a ton of depth, a ton of talent, and an organized team," Spartans head coach Adam Nightingale said this week about UND. "It'll be a really good test. For our team, we want to make sure that we're a work-based program. We have talent, but our goal is to have success based on how we work. Talent will take over, but you've got to be willing to sweat and work. It should make for a great matchup."

Season Recaps for Both Teams

Working backward, both teams enter this heavyweight battle thinking last weekend could've gone better. Michigan State dropped two spots in the rankings after it accepted a split at unranked New Hampshire. The Spartans' loaded offense suddenly looked inept during Game 1 of that series, falling 1-0. MSU picked up enough pieces the next day to take a 2-1 win, though.

Starting goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen was fantastic that series, as the scores would suggest. He boasts a .957 save percentage through four starts this season and a very impressive 1.26 GAA. MSU has only allowed six goals in five games this year, period. The defensemen have played well so far, but Ravensbergen has felt like the biggest star in the goal-prevention department.

"He was great. He did a heck of a job," Nightingale said of Ravensbergen. "When we did have breakdowns, he made some saves. I thought our D did a good job of eliminating second opportunities, right?"

"(Ravensbergen) is the type of goalie that, if he can see the first save, he's going to make it, and then we've got to clear out the net front for him. When you look at the games, both of them were pretty much dead even. There wasn't a ton of scoring chances either way, about 12 each side a game. But he did a great job, and that's a huge, huge part of our team."

Michigan State sits at 4-1-0 overall this year. The Spartans swept Northern Michigan in their season-opening series at home and then took the first and only game at RIT prior to their split at UNH.

North Dakota is coming off a trip to Minnesota, where it got swept by way of two consecutive 5-3 scores. The Fighting Hawks slid five spots in the rankings as a result, while the Golden Gophers got to climb from unranked to No. 18.

This puts UND at 4-2-0 on the season. Prior to the Minnesota losses, it started its season by being on the good side of sweeps against Bemidji State (home-and-home series) and Bentley (home).

Other History Around Matchup

Michigan State is also playing in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game for the fourth time in its history, joining appearances in 1999, 2007, and 2013. The bad news for MSU is that it is 0-3 all-time in this event. The 2007 game was a 6-0 loss to... North Dakota. Michigan State lost to Colorado College in 1999 and then to Ferris State in its most recent appearance in 2013.

Saturday will also be the 105th all-time meeting between the MSU and North Dakota hockey programs. UND holds a 64-37-3 advantage in the series against the Spartans, though the two teams haven't met since November 2016, and this will only be the 10th meeting since 2000. Michigan State is 4-6-0 all-time against the Fighting Hawks when the game is played on neutral ice.