COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In what has been a season of one huge weekend after another for the No. 1 Wisconsin men's hockey team, the Badgers outdid themselves again this weekend by sweeping No. 5 Colorado College.

After hanging on for a 3-2 victory Friday night, UW came out of the locker room on fire here Saturday night, erupting for six first-period goals en route to a 9-1 blowout, snagging four more league points on the weekend.

The wins put Wisconsin up eight points over its closest league foe with seven weeks to go.

"We have an analogy that we're trying to get to the top of a mountain," head coach Mike Eaves said. "This is just a good day of climbing."

Thanks to a five-minute major penalty on CC midway through the opening period Saturday, the Badgers scored four goals in a matter of five minutes, stunning the Tigers and forcing goalie Matt Zaba to relinquish his spot between the pipes.

Andrew Joudrey scored twice on the five-minute power play while Ryan MacMurchy and Tom Gilbert helped him put UW up 4-0 less than 12 minutes into the game.

"You definitely want to get at least one goal," Joudrey said when asked what a team can expect when given a five-minute power play. "You want to capitalize and at least make them pay once."

"I've seen two or three [goals on a five-minute power play] at the max, but I'd have to go deep into my archives," Eaves said.

Freshman Jack Skille and junior Robbie Earl would get in the action before the period was over, and the Badgers waltzed into the locker room with an astounding 6-0 lead.

Earl would get his second goal in the third period and Joe Pavelski finished the scoring with his 14th tally of the year to go along with four assists on the night.

"The lanes were open and it was one of the nights where the puck found the back of the net," Earl said.

The Badgers finished four-of-six on the power play while shutting out the Tigers on the man-advantage.

Very few people expected Wisconsin to sweep this weekend, let alone in blowout fashion, but it did just that, exposing each and every CC weakness.

"You don't expect these nights," Pavelski said. "When they started going in, you just gain confidence."

While Saturday night featured a rout, the story was a bit different the night before.

Friday night, the Badgers earned yet another huge road win by hanging on to beat the Tigers 3-2 thanks to a strong outing by junior goalie Brian Elliott between the pipes.

"These are the games that are fun to play. These games help you prepare for the end of the year," UW head coach Mike Eaves said. "It was a great environment."

Senior winger A.J. Degenhardt continued his hot streak with his second goal and fourth point in his last three games. The tally put the Badgers up 1-0 less than three minutes into the game.

The teams traded power play goals down the stretch in the opening period and the Badgers carried a 2-1 lead through to the final 20 minutes of the game.

Once there, Pavelski grabbed his first of two goals on the weekend with a sharp wrister that snuck through traffic and Zaba's legs to give the Badgers a two-goal lead.

Pavelski's goal turned out to be the game-winner, as CC winger Joey Crabb tried to lead the Tigers back into the game with a goal on the team's fourth power play of the period, bringing the sellout crowd back into the game.

But the tired Badger squad was resilient and did what it needed to do to keep the Tigers from scoring in the waning minutes.

"This was an enormous two points," Burish said. "This is our biggest game of the year — the biggest two points we've had so far."

Elliott slammed the door when he needed to and finished with 29 saves on the night and was once again the team's best penalty killer.

"They have two really good power-play units," Elliott said. "When we face teams like that, I think we play even better. I take it as a challenge."

The sweep moved the Badgers to 18-2-2, the best record in school history through 22 games, and moved their road record to an unbeaten 9-0-1 in league play.

Wisconsin will go right back at it again next weekend, looking to extend its WCHA-lead at home against No. 18 Denver, which split this weekend against St. Cloud State, but jumped into a tie for second in the league standings.