The No. 2 Wisconsin men's hockey team is off to its hottest start ever in league play, but it is going to have to put its WCHA schedule on hold as the Badgers prepare for the annual College Hockey Showcase.

Wisconsin, which is 8-0-2 through its first 10 games, is only team left in the country that is unbeaten in league play.

The Badgers travel to the state of Michigan this weekend to take on a struggling Michigan State Friday before a date with No. 1 Michigan Saturday.

UW head coach Mike Eaves acknowledged it would be nice to continue WCHA play considering the hot the start, but knows that is not something he can dwell on.

"It would be nice to be quite honest, but that's not the way the schedule is," Eaves said at a Monday news conference. "We're going to go in and face a couple of different styles, and in the long run that's going to be effective for us … having played these other teams."

The Badgers have not had a lot of success in the 12 years that they have taken part in the Showcase, going 5-18-1 over that span, but have turned things around lately.

UW is 3-1-0 in the last two years, including a pair of victories on the road against these same teams two seasons ago.

"I think our guys looked at that like 'Hey, we did something special here,'" Eaves said. "We hadn't had a lot of success in recent years, but to go in there and have the success that we did, was a statement to where we wanted to go."

While a coach couldn't have asked for a much better start than Eaves has had from his team this year — including a sweep on the road at North Dakota and a three-point weekend against then-No. 1 Colorado College — there is no room to bask in that success.

This is yet another big weekend in what is still a young season, and there is still work to be done as the Badgers look to improve and eventually, they hope to play their best hockey at the end of the year.

"The bottom line is that [we have] points on the board, we have wins in the win column," Eaves said. "As glad as we are … we are very much focused on getting better."

Gearing up for another No. 1

Wisconsin took on one top-ranked team already this season when it faced Colorado College just two weeks ago, but the Badgers are already gearing up for another matchup with the new No. 1 team in the country, Michigan.

There is no doubt that teams get fired up to take on top-ranked opponents, and the Badgers are a prime example of that. Thanks to a win and tie against the Tigers two weeks ago, UW is now 4-0-1 in its last five meetings with No. 1 teams.

"It's exciting, it's always fun to play the number one team in the country," assistant captain Tom Gilbert said after Sunday's game. "We're going to be ready for them."

This year's College Hockey Showcase is turning out to be a mirror image of last year's. The Badgers went up against a Michigan team that was No. 1 in the country at the time and won 3-1.

The only difference — in both this year's Showcase and in UW's recent success against No. 1 teams — is that this weekend the team will be on the road.

The matchup should provide fans with a great dessert following Thanksgiving as it pits the nation's top offense against the country's best defense.

The stingy Badger defense, back-boned by junior goalie Brian Elliott, is allowing just 1.42 goals per game.

Elliott leads the country with a .944 save percentage and is second with a 1.40 goals against average.

Michigan, on the other hand, boasts a paltry 4.36 goals per game, thanks to a balanced scoring effort. They are led by sophomore Kevin Porter, who has eight goals, while junior T.J. Hensick leads the team with 19 points.

Eaves is not expecting any surprises.

"They never change their style — they're just going to come," Eaves said. "We'll have to be ready for that."

Overlooking MSU

The Badgers will also be dealing with a similar situation as this time last year as they will face Michigan State the night before facing the top-ranked Wolverines.

Last year, Wisconsin may have overlooked MSU, falling 4-0 before facing Michigan.

While the Spartans are struggling — they are winless in their last six games — Eaves and the coaching staff is committed to making sure the team does not look too far ahead in the upcoming weekend.

"We can learn our lesson from last year," Eaves said. "We as coaches will certainly point that out … and not fall into that same trap."