Despite giving up three of a possible four points to newly crowned No. 1 Minnesota last weekend in Minneapolis, the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey is just two votes away from the top spot in the national rankings. Wisconsin’s loss and shootout win at Ridder Arena also put the Badgers a point behind the Gophers in the WCHA standings with only four conference games to play.

This week the Badgers will prepare for a weekend series at 8-16-4 Minnesota State-Mankato, a team they outscored 15-2 during an October sweep at the Kohl Center. Assuming the Badgers score a pair of convincing wins over Mankato and take care of Bemidji State the following week at home, they still may not have a chance to reclaim the top spot in both the WCHA and the national rankings.

This is largely due the noticeable lack of parity within women’s hockey, a phenomenon especially visible in the top-heavy WCHA. In a conference that has been historically dominated by Wisconsin, Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth, things are no different this year as Minnesota, which still plays series against North Dakota and Saint Cloud State, is virtually guaranteed to win their remaining four games.

The lack of a middle class, if you will, is also evident on the national scale. The three aforementioned WCHA powerhouses all rank among the top four teams in the nation. Harvard, once a perennial national title contender, has fallen into the ranks of mediocrity and left the entire east coast without a team that appears fit to beat the WCHA powers.

The last nine national championships have all been won by Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth or Wisconsin. This pattern has catalyzed some great rivalries within the WCHA but simultaneously created a power structure that leaves little room for error amongst these juggernauts and even less for the rare underdog that emerges to challenge the traditional powers.

UW junior wing Meghan Duggan, who scored the winning goal in Wisconsin’s shootout win over the Gophers last Saturday, sees a lot of talented teams out east but maybe none that can outlast the trio from the WCHA.

“I think obviously if you look just on paper, the last couple national championships, it’s been all WCHA. That might give us a little bit of an edge when people look on paper,” Duggan said. “But I think the east coast teams like [New Hampshire] and some of the Ivy League schools and [Boston College] are great competitors.”

No. 3 Mercyhurst is the top-ranked team on the East Coast. Mercyhurst has accumulated seven losses despite playing a schedule arguably easier than that of the Badgers. Rounding out the top five is red-hot New Hampshire, a team the Badgers beat 8-2 in late November.

Duggan, who has played in two national championships in her first two years as a Badger, noted while the WCHA may provide the best individual teams each year, other conferences do provide plenty of competition.

“It’s always about half Midwest and half East Coast teams in the top eight at the end of the year,” Duggan said. “I think it will be interesting to see how it all pans out this year with the NCAAs, but they do have some good competition out there.”

In contrast to the men’s game, where seemingly any team can win on any night, the Badgers, Gophers and Bulldogs have monopolized the top of the WCHA, creating a crucial emphasis on winning the games they are expected to win.

Nevertheless, Duggan spoke of the importance of not looking past inferior opponents.

“Our team has always been good at being able to focus on the task on hand and not overlooking teams so easily,” Duggan said. “Yeah, we have beaten both teams already this season, but I think everyone in their head knows we are already a point behind Minnesota, so any slip-up just makes things worse for us.”

With Minnesota hosting the WCHA playoffs this season and with the Badgers’ recent drop to No. 2, Wisconsin will most likely have to go through both the Gophers and the Bulldogs to capture the WCHA crown — all in the hostile setting of Ridder Arena.

A move back to the top of the WCHA standings would give coach Mark Johnson and his team a much needed boost during the WCHA playoffs and the NCAA Frozen Four, assuming the Badgers advance that far.

Despite the unlikelihood of any changes, Duggan insists the Badgers will remain positive during the last two weeks of the season and do everything they can control to earn back the No. 1 spot, both nationally and in the WCHA.

“We’ll be talking about it and looking at how Minnesota does, and if anyone can upset them, maybe we can jump ahead of them in the standings,” Duggan said. “I guess you can’t predict what’s going to happen until those four regular season games are over.”