Friday, April 9

Something about a golf course in Georgia?

Was there another happening Thursday in the wide world of sports? I mean, besides the Wisconsin Badgers knocking Rochester off their skates in Detroit to advance to Saturday night's college hockey championship game?

By David Albright, ESPN.com

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Wisconsin started the day when it rolled Rochester Institute of Technology 8-1 by the largest margin of victory in a Frozen Four game since Lake Superior State beat Boston University 9-1 in the 1994 final.

That was followed by Boston College's 7-1 crusher against No. 1 overall seed Miami.

The 13-goal combined differential was the second largest in Frozen Four play behind a 15-goal day way back in 1954.

Thursday's two victories, in front a surprisingly quiet record indoor hockey crowd of 34,954, set up a rematch of the 2006 championship game (which was won 2-1 by the Badgers over the Eagles at Milwaukee's Bradley Center). BC and Wisconsin meet Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com) to decide the 2010 NCAA hockey champion.
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"We ran into just a powerhouse tonight," RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. "They have a tremendous power play and we knew that going in. But they had an answer for everything. They were physically stronger and quicker and really answered anything we tried to generate."
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Wisconsin will be going for its seventh national title and third (in three different venues) in this town. But the Badgers know that Thursday's easy skate won't likely be repeated Saturday.

"It's a good win for us, but we gotta continue to play hard and play smart and we gotta get ourselves ready and focused to play one more," [Wisconsin center Derek] Stepan said. "And having that balance of not being too hot or not being too low is kind of a key. With being confident comes that poise and having that poise is very crucial."
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[T]he Badgers, who lead the nation with 171 goals (4.1 per game), have to feel pretty good about their chances too heading into the championship game.

"I think this group, because of the upperclassmen, has the ability to enjoy the moment and get back to the task at hand," Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said. "I think that is one of the guys' strengths is being able to do that. And we're going to need to be able to have that happen again."

And with any luck the final game of the college hockey season will be played on level ice.

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