OK guys, here’s the situation.

The Wisconsin’s men’s hockey team plays its last home series of the regular season this weekend. And you should be there.

Yes, I know the opponent is St. Cloud (is not a) State. You should still be there.

‘But why, Adam? Why should I keep alcohol out of my hand for three hours on a Friday and Saturday night?’ some of you might ask.

Well, for one, it’s the most important series of the season for the Badgers. The series at Minnesota-Duluth was big, but this is bigger. In current context, this is even bigger than the series a month ago when then-No. 1 Denver came to town.

I know, I know, it’s St. Cloud State — but they’re actually good, which I agree is weird.

St. Cloud is a town that tends to be tolerable only when you are drunk. Based upon my visits to the place, that’s the way many residents deal with living/going to school there, which makes me wonder how they’re ever able to field a competitive/sober hockey team. Possible drunkenness aside, the Huskies are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, which qualifies as a legit hot streak.

And the matchup gets better from there.

UW is ranked third in the nation and SCSU is No. 4. St. Cloud is second in the WCHA with 31 points, Wisconsin is tied for third with 29 — and the Badgers have two games in hand.

A UW sweep puts the Badgers in position to challenge first-place Denver for the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular season champions.

If the opposite happens, it all but eliminates Wisconsin’s chances to win the Cup for the first time since 2000. The Huskies will be hungry for these points, as they’ve never won the MacNaughton Cup. Ever.

Do you like scoring? Wisconsin averages 4.00 goals a game, 4.29 at the Kohl Center, and is fresh off an 8-4 win over Minnesota State. St. Cloud averages a respectable 3.29 goals per game.

Some of the conference’s best offensive talent will be on the ice as well. UW Hobey Baker candidate (go online and vote!) Blake Geoffrion is third in the country with 21 goals. Michael Davies, Derek Stepan and Brendan Smith join Geoffrion with over 30 total points apiece on the season.

Offensively — to put it bluntly — Wisconsin is a juggernaut, bitch.

On the Huskies’ side, senior forward Ryan Lasch has 16 goals and 19 assists, while junior Garrett Roe has 12 and 22. All together, six of the WCHA’s 11 top scorers will be on display this weekend.

So the stakes are as high as they’ve ever been. Also on the line is a chance for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. A UW sweep could help put the Badgers in St. Paul for the regional round, which would be much preferred to the currently projected destination of Albany, N.Y.

But just as important, the guys want you there.

Sure, you might not know it, but the team is very, very aware of the fans.

“I remember one series with Minnesota, I think we were up with like a minute left, and the student section did the ‘Stand up old people,'” senior tri-captain Ben Street said. “That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard a building, I could not hear anything.”

The Kohl Center doesn’t always sell all 15,237 seats, but UW averaged 13,785 fans per home game last season. The only sellout so far this season was the Saturday game in the Denver series, which in my experience was the loudest I’ve heard the place.

And volume aside, Street appreciates the support the fans give the team, regardless of the score.

“They’re such good fans, even if we’re playing terrible — we go in and we have a good shift and we give a lot of hits, that seems to build energy within them,” he said. “We love to hear that they’re appreciating that.

“Even if you’re up 4-0, but the crowd’s still in it, they’re still going — as an opposing team [you’re like] ‘What are these guys doing?'”

The chances of a 4-0 lead for UW aren’t too bad, either. The teams met earlier this season in St. Cloud, where they split the series. Wisconsin essentially lost a 2-1 contest in game one of the series, as St. Cloud State got an empty net goal and a garbage-time goal to make the final tally 4-1. Despite the result, UW dominated the game, outshooting SCSU 39-25.

Game two provided an easy 4-1 win for the Badgers, where the boys in cardinal and white killed off a five-minute major en route to holding the Huskies scoreless on the power play in seven chances.

So if you want to see a national championship caliber team make a push for its first regular season title in a decade, be at the Kohl Center.

If you want to see a lot of talented players score a lot of goals, you know where to be.

Don’t complain about finding tickets — I found six for my friends and spent $55 total. And if you want to be an honorary member of the team, this is the series to do it.

But don’t take my word for it — here’s what Street thinks about the huge home crowds:

“It’s definitely having a seventh guy on the ice for sure.”

Adam is a junior majoring in journalism. Since you definitely have nothing better to do, find some tickets to these hockey games. Trust him — you have nothing better to do, and if that’s untrue, email him at [email protected]