It’s a mixed fate, being resigned to Badger fandom. As we all learned last Saturday, watching the UW men’s basketball team fall miserably to an unworthy Northwestern squad, no matter how good a team seems to be, if Wisconsin is attached to its moniker there is always a factor of fallibility that must be dealt with.

We learned this earlier in the year when Bo’s Badgers beat reigning Final-Four contestant Marquette, only to let up against Alabama two games later. We learned this in the fall when we watched Barry’s Badgers beat the unbeatable Buckeyes, only to see them lay down for their next three straight.

So, it’s only natural — in spite of the team having spent the past two and a half months in the top ten of both the USCHO and USA Today/American Hockey polls — to have reservations about the Ice Badgers’ chances to make a run at the frozen four.

Throw those reservations away. Here are four reasons to believe that come playoff time, Mike Eaves’ squad will prove that it’s for real.

It’s fitting to start this list with Robbie Earl, last weekend’s star. Hollywood brings the Badgers an element that they have been in sore need of since Dany Heatley’s pre-junior year departure — a pure goal-scorer with quick hands, quick feet and the sort of moves that make goalies cringe. And true to his name, Hollywood’s game seems to only grow bigger as the lights glow brighter. Including the four goals he tallied against the formerly top-ranked Flailing Sioux of North Dakota over the weekend, 11 of 12 goals tallied by Earl this season have come against WCHA opponents.

3) Last hurrah

When senior captains Rene Bourque and Dan Boeser made their debuts in Madison four years ago, the Badger ice hockey program had plenty going for it. The team was fresh off a WCHA championship; the best player in the country had shirked the NHL to return for his sophomore year; and one of the most respected coaches in the nation was returning for his 19th season.

The team came in first in the WCHA that year and headed to the NCAA championships, with both Boeser and Bourque contributing. It appeared to be the beginning of two great careers. But then Heatley left for Hotlanta, Sauer piloted the team through one more mediocre season before retiring, and the program stagnated.

The two seniors finally have a chance to make it back to the national spotlight this year, and that doesn’t seem to be a chance they’re taking lightly. Bourque, who is 12 points shy of the century mark for his UW career, has scored 23 of his 27 points this season in Badger victories. Boeser has scored 17 of 18 in those contests.

Beating North Dakota is an impressive accomplishment, but it is hardly the first great team this season the Ice Badgers have knocked off. Under the KRACH rankings, which are mathematically figured to determine the strongest teams in college hockey (in a fashion somewhat akin to the BCS rankings in college football), the Badgers have wins over No. 1 North Dakota, No. 3 Minnesota (the two-time defending NCAA champion), No. 7 Michigan, No. 9 Denver and No. 10 Colorado College. With matchups against No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 6 St. Cloud State in the wings, the only team in the top ten that the Badgers won’t have met come playoff time is No. 2 Boston College. They say to be the best, you have to beat the best; the Badgers aren’t going to see better teams this year than the ones they’ve already beaten.

Bernd Brückler is, as the conference stands at this moment, undeniably the most valuable player in the WCHA. Brückler has posted a 2.40 GAA this season, the lowest UW mark in the past 20 years, ahead of even Curtis Joseph’s 2.49 GAA from 1988-89. He has saved better than 91 percent of shots against him. But most impressively, Brückler has performed in clutch situation after clutch situation. In overtime contests this season, the Badgers are 3-0-6, meaning that in the nine extra periods of hockey, Brückler has let up zero goals.

Asked if he thought there was something that gave his team an edge over the other top teams in the nation, Mike Eaves responded, “There’s one thing that stands out, and that’s the ability of our young goaltender. He has given us the chance to grow, get our feet underneath us in tough games and, because of that, we’ve become a better team. So that, in my mind, separates us clearly.”

More than anything else, to win big-time games a team needs a big-time goaltender. Brückler has carried the Ice Badgers this far. There’s no reason to believe he can’t carry them a bit further.