The University of Denver hockey team may not be bringing in the wins as much as they were at this time last year, but they are still near the top of the national polls.

This weekend they will face off against a tough conference rival, the Wisconsin Badgers. Friday night’s game will begin at 7:35 p.m., while Saturday night’s game will begin at 7:05. p.m.

Two wins this weekend could mean earning four much-needed points , which will help get the Pioneers back into the hunt for their conference’s title.

So far this year the Pioneers have an overall record of 15 wins, seven losses and four ties, and a conference record of six wins, six losses and four ties. This all means that DU has only one non-conference loss. This is most likely because they play in one of the toughest conferences in the NCAA.

A few weeks ago, the Pioneers were sixth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association points standing, while simultaneously being ranked sixth in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine top 15 hockey poll.

Last week the Pioneers were still sixth in the WCHA with a total of 16 points, only nine points behind Colorado College and North Dakota, who share the WCHA conference lead. However; the Pioneers have slipped in the national poll, but still hold a place in the top 10. In fact, four of the top 10 teams in the USA Today poll come out of the WCHA.

The WCHA has been the most dominant conference in men’s ice hockey since it began in 1948. Thirty-two times in the past 55 years a team from the WCHA has gone on to win the NCAA tournament.

Last year, DU won both the WCHA regular season and playoff championships, but the Minnesota Gophers, another WCHA team went on the win the NCAA tournament.

So why does the WCHA seem to be such a dominant conference in men’s hockey?

“There is a ton of tradition, glory, and history” with many of the teams from the WCHA, said Assistant Coach Seth Appert.

At most of the schools in the WCHA including DU, hockey is the number one grossing sport. Hockey alone last year at DU brought in $1.5 million.

Many WCHA teams, more than teams in other conferences, are signing television contracts, similar to what DU has done with Fox Sports Net allowing schools to build bigger and better facilities.

Appert said, “The big new arenas are more attractive to recruits and make a very nice place for an 18 or 19 year-old to choose to play.”