For Wisconsin women’s hockey, a final test remains in the regular season.

Heading to face WCHA foe Bemidji State, the No. 6 Badgers (19-9-2, 15-9-2 WCHA) will be facing the opponent who spoiled their season home opener and inaugural game at LaBahn arena back on Oct. 19. The Beavers (6-22-2, 5-20-1 WCHA) shut out UW in game one of the series 1-0, and went on to tie the Badgers in game two.

But what has transpired since this early season meeting is an opposite tale.

Wisconsin went on to win its next five games, and since has boasted a 17-6 record. Early season struggles scoring were highlighted in the earlier matchup but have since ceased to exist.

Last weekend Wisconsin swept Minnesota-Duluth (14-13-3, 13-12-1 WCHA) – a team that had shut UW in the weekend prior to the Beavers success in Madison – and recorded six goals on the weekend.

While Wisconsin has been on an uphill climb, the Beavers have yet to see such success. The team has struggled to find consistency, finding itself with a loss in every series since its journey to Wisconsin’s capitol. Adding to the team’s hardship has been a schedule consisting of three successive ranked teams to close out regular season play – first against then No. 9 North Dakota (22-10-0, 17-9-1 WCHA), most recently at No. 1 Minnesota (32-0-0, 26-0-0 WCHA), and now Wisconsin.

What bodes well for the Beavers is what transpired last weekend against Minnesota. After a punishing 8-0 loss in game one, Bemidji State nearly gave Minnesota its first loss, or tie for that matter, taking the game to overtime, but falling 3-2 on a Gopher power play goal.

Despite being outshot 44-14 in the game, Bemidji State showed both its ability to capitalize on opportunities, and fend off offensive dominance by the nation’s best team.

At stake for both teams this weekend is the change to move up in WCHA rankings, earning a better seed in the conference tournament beginning the following weekend. Third-place Wisconsin secured home ice for the first round, and could find itself the number two seed with wins this weekend and a loss, or two, by No. 8 North Dakota – who currently holds a two-point advantage over UW.

For Bemidji State, playoffs on the road is a given, but a combination of success against the Badgers and losses by St. Cloud State (9-20-3, 5-19-2 WCHA) would move them out of last place and more importantly keep them from traveling to face undefeated Minnesota.

Also up for grabs is momentum, something any team wants to have driving them into post-season play.

Continued offensive dominance will be key for Wisconsin – which outshot the Bulldogs last weekend 79-50 – if it hopes to come away victorious. The Badgers are 7-0-2 in games this season where they have put 40 or more shots on net.

History is on the side of Wisconsin, who holds a dominating 49-4-3 all-time record over Bemidji State.

But with the performance by the Beavers against Minnesota, it will be no easy victory for the Badgers.

A win this weekend would also put head coach Mark Johnson at 300 career wins at Wisconsin. Game one is set for Friday night at 7 p.m. and game two will begin Saturday at 4 p.m., both being played at Bemidji’s Stanford Center.