The Wisconsin men's hockey team finished the season with three-straight losses and a losing record. It was not the hard sell UW had in mind as it tried to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Still, when the 16 teams were announced Sunday morning, the Badgers became part of an exclusive group that can all but forget about results over the past five months.
What's more, the Badgers will have home ice in their regional bracket, which begins this weekend. The Badgers, drawing the No. 3 seed, will face off single-elimination style against Denver at the Kohl Center Saturday.
The Midwest Regional in Madison will feature another familiar face in No. 1 seed North Dakota, which will play Princeton for a spot in the regional final Sunday night.
The Badgers are unquestionably one of the more surprising entrants. Their results last week in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament - two losses to St. Cloud State in the first round - did not buttress their argument for a spot, and it is rare for a team with an overall losing record to pass muster. UW is 15-16-7 this year and never moved more than three games above .500.
The selection committee was evidently able to overlook the Badgers' poor finish, giving UW one of the 10 at-large bids that are determined by factors like Rating Percentage Index and record against other teams under consideration.
One of the teams thought to be in close competition with the Badgers was Minnesota State, which finished above the Badgers in the WCHA standings and was the higher-ranked team as of last week. The Mavericks also lost in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, to Minnesota, which will be playing in the Northeast Regional.
A record six WCHA teams, including St. Cloud State and Colorado College, were selected for the single-elimination tournament. Yet the Midwest is the only regional to feature more than one.
Even with what is certain to be a home ice environment at the Kohl Center, the Badgers have a tall task in order to advance to the Frozen Four in Denver.
First they will have to get past the Pioneers, who beat resurgent Minnesota Saturday for their 15th Final Five championship and its attendant automatic NCAA bid. In their only series this season in Denver, the Badgers and Pioneers split.
Like the Badgers, who have their own dynamic freshmen, Denver has possibly the best first-year player in the country. Tyler Bozak leads the team with 18 goals and 34 points. Peter Mannino, the team's senior goalie, has experience and athleticism, and was an early candidate for the top individual award in college hockey.
Wisconsin and Denver will play at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, following the North Dakota-Princeton game scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale through uwbadgers.com.
