3 Things to Know About MSU Hockey's Regional Final

Next up in the regional final, college hockey's "Elite Eight," is 3-seed Wisconsin. The Badgers blew past 2-seed Dartmouth on Thursday by outscoring the Big Green 4-0 during the third period in a 5-1 victory. Puck drop is set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. The game will also be televised on ESPN2.

Here are a handful of storylines entering this battle with some additional background info:

Split Season Series

By virtue of life in the Big Ten, these teams have gotten to know each other well already. Saturday's game will be the fifth meeting between the Spartans and Badgers this season. The season series is split down the middle, 2-2-0, during the four regular-season meetings.

What is interesting is that the road team won all four games. Wisconsin (the No. 12 overall seed) swept Michigan State (the No. 3 overall seed) at Munn Ice Arena back in November, but then MSU swept UW in Madison in January. This game will be played on neutral ice at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass.

Long Drought Ending

No matter who wins, a pretty long Frozen Four drought will be coming to an end. Michigan State hasn't been there since 2007, which was also the program's most recent national championship season. The Badgers haven't gone since 2010, with their last national title being in 2006.

Getting to the Frozen Four, which will be held in Las Vegas on April 9 and 11, would be a breakthrough moment for head coach Adam Nightingale. He never got to experience that as a college hockey player at Lake Superior State or MSU, with the Spartans getting that '07 title with plenty of Nightingale's teammates a couple of years after he had left.

Penalty/Defensive Concerns

One thing that's clear from the UConn game, though, is that Michigan State won't get much further playing like that. Allowing 42 shots on net and committing seven penalties is generally not winning hockey, but the Spartans were able to get away with it during that first-round game.

It must be cleaner moving forward. Some penalties, like a hit from behind or a goalie interference, are pretty preventable. Wisconsin entered the tournament sitting at 27.3% on the power play, fifth in the country. Asking Augustine to bail you out again and again won't get MSU to the end.