North Dakota fans were cheering hard for the Badgers during the Big Ten tournament championship game on Saturday night.
Oh, how different things will be this Friday.
Wisconsin will be the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati and will face fourth-seeded North Dakota. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. EDT and the game will be televised on ESPNU. The winner will play the winner of a contest between Ferris State and Colgate on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. EDT. That regional championship game will also be on ESPNU
UND got into the tournament when the Badgers beat Ohio State 5-4 in overtime of the conference tournament championship game in St. Paul and denied the Buckeyes an automatic bid into the tournament.
The Badgers have advanced to the Frozen Four’s championship game the previous two times they’ve secured a No. 1 seed. Wisconsin defeated Boston College in 2006 and dropped a rematch between the two teams in 2010.
Wisconsin and North Dakota have a long history with each other from the time the two institutions spent in the WCHA before this season. The Badgers own an 86-65-12 record against UND. The 163 times the two teams have played is the fourth-highest opponent for Wisconsin behind Minnesota, Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth.
Wisconsin went 0-1-1 against North Dakota during the 2012-13 season. The Badgers won the last WCHA Final Five postseason tournament last year and fell 6-1 to Massachusetts-Lowell in the NCAA tournament.
