The Badgers extended their win streak to six games and treated Wisconsin fans to a pair of wins over the Tigers of Colorado College, winning 3-2 and 9-1. The Badgers are now 18-2-2 overall and 13-1-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. A full eight points now separate the Badgers from second-place teams Denver and Minnesota.This achievement is amplified by the fact that only 11 points separate the second-place teams from last-ranked Alaska-Anchorage.
Short of an all-out team implosion, the Badgers appear poised and ready to win the WCHA conference. The WCHA was founded in 1951 as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (MCHL).
In 1953, the name was changed to the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League (WIHL), and finally in 1959 the League settled on the current acronym, WCHA.
The WCHA has continually proven to be the best conference in all of college hockey, with teams from the conference winning the NCAA championship a record 35 times since 1951, and taking second place 27 times. In the 53 years of Frozen Four hockey action, WCHA teams have missed the tournament only three times. Indeed, last year's NCAA Frozen Four victory for Denver was the league's fourth straight national title, and it's fifth in the last six years. The WCHA is also the only league in college hockey history to fill up all four berths in the national championship tournament.
Unlike the Big Ten in football and all other Wisconsin sports, the WCHA (which is a hockey-only conference) is without some teams traditionally associated with the Badgers. The few teams in the conference range from Minnesota and North Dakota, to Colorado College and St. Cloud State, but absent from the WCHA are big-time Badger rival schools like Michigan and Ohio State (both are a part of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association).
Some Big Ten schools such as Northwestern and Illinois do not have division I college hockey programs. The differences between the Big Ten and the WCHA and other college hockey leagues exist because many Midwest schools that do not regularly field other Division I sports (like North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Michigan Tech) are able to put together competitive hockey programs.
The Badgers now have only one non-conference game left'Ohio State in Lambeau Field. Yet, with the WCHA's reputation as the conference to beat, some question the need to play so many non-conference games during the season. However, these games gave Wisconsin a chance to play different teams with different styles of play on smaller rinks. All things considered, the Badgers will have to play at least one non-conference team in the Frozen Four tournament, so the extra practice can only help. For Badger goalie Brian Elliott non-conference games are as crucial to a successful season as those in the WCHA.
'They're just as important as any other game. At the end of the year it counts in the rankings and where you're going to go in the NCAA Tournament... We want the WCHA to be the best league. When teams in our own conference win [in non-conference games] we want that to happen because that makes our league stronger and proves to everybody that we are the best conference.'
