For the Wisconsin men's hockey team, the road to the Frozen Four starts here. The Badgers will begin the NCAA tournament against Vermont Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minn., knowing that they are four wins away from claiming their seventh national title.
There are 15 other teams in the NCAA tournament field who also have dreams of emerging from Ford Field with a championship April 10. But before they pack their bags for Detroit the Badgers will have to get through their bracket, the West Regional. Here is a look at Wisconsin and the three other teams that will try to take their places in the Frozen Four.
No. 1 Wisconsin
They won the late games to stay close to home, and they may be blessed with the talent and experience to make their first Frozen Four in four years. But Wisconsin's spot as the favorite in the region will only get them so far. Last year only one top seed even won its opening game, and this tournament can be quite unpredictable (not a surprise when the format is single-elimination hockey games).
To that end Wisconsin will rely on a potent offense featuring a pair of Hobey Baker finalists in senior forward Blake Geoffrion and junior defenseman Brendan Smith. That offense chased the WCHA's best goaltender, Denver's Marc Cheverie, from their game Saturday, but came up empty the day before against St. Cloud State goalie Mike Lee when Wisconsin still had a chance at the conference tournament crown.
The biggest question for Wisconsin is its goaltender spot, which now belongs to junior Scott Gudmandson.
At times this season when the Badgers' play in net has been questioned, UW head coach Mike Eaves has pointed to his goaltending as having been more than serviceable. He felt they just did not quite stand out as much as Wisconsin's forward or defensive groups, drawing the positive moniker ""the worst of the best.""
So the Badgers' hopes may well rely on that prolific scoring talent, as they aim to raise the seventh title banner in school history.
No. 2 St. Cloud State
With a regional in Minnesota, it would almost be wrong not to at least include one of the state's top hockey schools. Filling that role are the Huskies, runner-ups in the WCHA tournament and third-place regular season finishers in the conference.
They are more than familiar with the Badgers, having already faced them five times this year. The last meeting came just a week ago when the Huskies snuck out a 2-0 win in the league semi-finals to tip the season series to 3-2 in their favor.
St. Cloud is led offensively by senior forward Garrett Roe (who was injured in the game against Wisconsin but is expected to play this weekend) and junior forwards Ryan Lasch and Tony Mosey. That trio has scored 120 points on the year and power a quick-skating attack predicated on well-designed breakouts that produce odd-man rushes. The team relies heavily on skill over brute strength, a quality that makes them more dangerous whenever the defense makes a mistake.
After dominating the Badgers, freshman Mike Lee struggled in his last game, giving up four goals in just over 26 minutes to North Dakota in the Final Five championship game. But he should hold onto the job that he split with junior Dan Dunn all season.
Just an hour away from campus, the Huskies will have a good chance to bring another Frozen Four berth back to their hockey-crazed homeland.
No. 3 Northern Michigan
For Badger fans, these losses still hurt.
It was over a year ago when Northern Michigan came into the Kohl Center, inflicted a massive upset on the home team and, when it was all said and done, probably cost the team a tournament spot last year. Now, however, the Wildcats have made it into the dance for the first time since 1999, mostly on the strength of the players who took down Wisconsin last year.
Junior forward Mark Olver is a Hobey Baker finalist with the most points and goals in his conference. The team's power play is humming with a 21.8 percent conversion rate.
That unit is run by junior defenseman Erik Gustafsson, the CCHA's best scoring blueliner, who has been consistently proficient in feeding his team's scorers throughout his time in Marquette, Mich.
Their presence in net is less notable, but senior Brian Stewart does what he needs to in backing the Wildcats' prolific offense.
One key factor on NMU's side heading into the weekend is momentum. On Jan. 23 they sat at .500 but ripped off 10 wins in their last 13 games, coming just two goals short of an undefeated run.
No. 4 Vermont
This team is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, dipped in the gaze of a riddle and topped with bacon.
The Catamounts were the last at-large team in the tournament, finishing in eighth place in their conference. They dismissed one of their best scorers 20 games into the season and have only scored two more goals than they've allowed.
And somehow they're still playing.
Maybe it has to do with a 6-1 record against a brutal non-conference schedule, but in any case Vermont enters this weekend looking to repeat last year's surprising run to the Frozen Four. The No. 3 seed in the East Regional in 2009, the Catamounts knocked off Yale and Air Force before eventual-national champion Boston University put them down 5-4 in the national semi-finals.
Senior forwards Brayden Irwin and Colin Vock lead the team with 34 and 28 points respectively, and sophomore goalie Rob Madore has been the team's top option in net. According to several Wisconsin players, Vermont does feature a number of bigger players, including a fourth line that boasts no player shorter than 6'1"".
