Final Five Preview, Game 2

#3 St. Cloud State vs. #2 Wisonsin, Friday, March 19, 2010, 2:07 p.m.

	St. Cloud	Wisconsin
Record	22-12-5 (15-9-4 WCHA)	24-9-4 (17-8-3 WCHA)
Head-to-head (season)	2-2-0	2-2-0
Head-to-head (all-time)	22-38-8	38-22-8

St. Cloud has had intermittent luck against the Badgers this season. They seem to play them tough in game one and then flounder in game two. Heading into the playoffs, the Huskies went 5-4-1 and eeked out a couple of 3-2 wins over Mankato to advance to the Final Five for the fourth time in head coach Bob Motzko's five year tenure. The Huskies last advanced to the Championship game in 2006 and won their only Broadmoor Trophy in 2001, under then head coach Craig Dahl. St. Cloud has played in 12 of 18 Final Fives and currently own a 7-14 record in the tournament. The Huskies and Badgers have squared off against each other twice in the Final Five where they have both won and lost one game each. The most recent game was in the 2007 3rd place game that Wisconsin won 4-3 in OT.

The Badgers have been outscored by the Huskies 14-13 in the four games they've played this season, but they have owned play in all of those games. In the last game, the Badgers outshot the Huskies 50-23 and dominated play throughout. This marks the third time since 2002 that the Badgers have advanced to the semifinals of the Final Five, but have not advanced to the championship game in either of the previous two. The Badgers last won the Broadmoor Trophy in 1998. They have been to 13 of 18 Final Fives and are 10-11 in the tournament.

This should be an interesting game. All four games between these two teams have been won by three or more goals this season and I don't know if that's likely to change. St. Cloud has played poorly down the stretch while Wisconsin has an 8-2 record in its last ten games. Wisconsin comes into this game as one of the top offensive teams in the nation holding down the number two spot behind Yale. It's going to come down to goaltending in this one. Both St. Cloud goalies have played stellar against this team in at least one game, so they know what it takes to defeat them. Your guess is as good as mine on this one. If I had to bet on one team, I think I'd put my money on Wisconsin at this point (you should know that I NEVER win when I bet on sports).