It's that time of the year again. It's time to smear on extra face paint and cheer until the vocal cords in your throat are in tatters. It's time for all Crease Creatures to unite as one under the banner of college hockey supremacy. It is time for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.
With a third-place seed going into the WCHA tournament, the Wisconsin Badgers look to roll over their opponents, the Michigan Tech Huskies, on their way to a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four.
As recently as a week ago, the Badgers were in a much tougher situation than they are now. However, in last weekend's series sweep against St. Cloud State, junior goalie Brian Elliott proved himself once again, racking up the most saves of his career and becoming WCHA Player of the Week.
Failing to go out in style, the Huskies of Michigan Tech finished their season with a pair of losses against then 10th-place North Dakota. These losses leave the Huskies with an eighth-place seed going into tomorrow's game, and it is clear that in terms of post-season momentum, Wisconsin will have the advantage.
However, for team captain and forward Adam Burish, the post season is a time when the slate is wiped clean and anything can happen.
When playoffs come along even the teams that didn't finish so well in the league ... have nothing to loose,\ Burish said.
The matchup between Wisconsin and Michigan Tech will be a best-of-three series in which early leads will be an important key for both teams. Thankfully, the Badger's third-place seed has earned them home-ice advantage in the Kohl Center.
The last series between Wisconsin and Michigan Tech ended in a split, with the Badgers giving up the lead in the third period of Saturday's game. This time around, said senior defenseman Tom Gilbert, the Badgers have learned their lesson.
""It was definitely a learning lesson for us,"" he said. ""Friday night we probably played one of the best games of our season, then Saturday night we maybe thought it was going to be the same. They ended up coming back and we lost a two-goal lead in the third period. So, for us, there's three periods in a game and you can't stop in any of them.""
Judging by the Badgers' earlier games this year, this season has not ended up exactly as fans imagined it would, but it has been impressive nonetheless. The Badgers held strong and overcame their losing streak and troubles with Elliott to finish in a second place tie in the WCHA, a fact not overlooked by head coach Mike Eaves.
""You talk about adversity, and you talk about falling,"" Eaves said. ""We had a storm like several other teams had. Minnesota had it, [Colorado College] had it. The nice thing about it is that we were able to not panic, keep our wits about us, batten down the hatches, and keep it moving forward.""
""We would have liked to not have that storm but I think for our seniors, it's the most wins they've had in the WCHA and they're very proud of that,"" he added. ""We're hoping that as we go through this final push, the moments when we were in those tough times will help us out.""
Now all the Badgers have to do is bite the bullet, and keep on keepin' on. It is ""go"" time, and if the Badgers' play to the level that everyone knows they can, they will be a post-season force to be reckoned with.\
