A slightly edited WCHA news release, with added comments:

Wisconsin, which has moved up to No. 2 in the latest national ratings, is 27-10-4 overall and has won three in a row going into the Frozen Four. The Badgers are 19-5-3 since Dec. 1.

You may remember, the Gophers gave Wisconsin all they could handle the last weekend of the regular season. The U lost to Wisconsin 3-2 at Target Center on the first Friday in March -- two Minnesota goals were disallowed -- then beat the Badgers 5-1 in a Sunday matinee at Mariucci.

But one team is still playing, the other has put its skates away long ago it seems like.

Next, Wisconsin faces the Rochester Institute of Technology (28-11-1) in the first national semifinal in Detroit on Thursday, April 8, at 4 p.m.

No. 9 RIT was the regular season champion of the Atlantic Hockey Association and won the AHA's tournament and has a 12-game winning streak.

The second national semifinal on April 8 at Ford Field will feature Boston College (27-10-3) against Miami (29-7-7) at 7:30 p.m. The No. 3 Eagles are unbeaten over their last 11 games (10-0-1).

No. 1-ranked Miami was the regular season champion of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and has won three straight.

WCHA teams have won a record 36 national championships since the league's founding in 1951, with the most recent being in 2006 by Wisconsin in Milwaukee. A WCHA-member team has also finished as the national runner-up 27 times.

In Monday's USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Div. 1 Men's College Hockey Poll, Wisconsin was ranked No. 2 nationally, St. Cloud State No. 4, Denver No. 5 and North Dakota No. 7. So the WCHA had four teams in the top seven. Also receiving votes was Minnesota Duluth.

In the March 22nd USCHO.com Div. 1 Men's College Hockey Poll – their final one of the 2009-10 season – Denver was ranked No. 2 nationally, North Dakota was No. 4, Wisconsin was No. 5, St. Cloud State was No. 7 and Minnesota Duluth was No. 14. Also receiving votes from the WCHA were Colorado College, Minnesota and Minnesota State.

Tickets Still Available for Frozen Four

Tickets for the 2010 NCAA Men's Frozen Four are still available via www.ticketmaster.com or visit www.ncaa.com. Ticket price includes both sessions:

Riser seating (field level): $164 - $189
Lower level seating: $94 - $189
Second level seating: $79 - $119
Club level seating: $79 - $119
Upper level seating: $40 - $79

At the West Regional, they were pushing the $40 seats. You will probably need binoculars to see the players if you sit there but for $40 for three games the price is hard to beat.

The Frozen Four will be at the Xcel next year, so a number of U of M staff is going to Detroit to see how it is run there. As the host school, Minnesota will provide a lot of the staff to run next year's event.