ESPN College Sports

MILWAUKEE -- One to go.

The Wisconsin Badgers talked all season about getting to this point. About putting themselves in a position to be playing on the last day of the season. About winning a championship.

And it's about thisclose to coming true.

Wisconsin was a rude Frozen Four host Thursday night as it dumped Maine 5-2 in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 17,691 at the Bradley Center to advance to Saturday night's national title game against Boston College (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

"We've got a chance to win the last game of the year, and that's something we've talked about since the beginning of the year," UW coach Mike Eaves said. "We talked about what needed to happen here, and that our goaltending needs to be good. Our specialty teams need to be good. And our big players need to come up big."

Check. Check. And check.

Goalie Brian Elliott had 32 saves, some spectacular. The Badgers' penalty kill was perfect -- and then some -- on the night. And Robbie Earl scored two goals to join Joe Pavelski with the team lead at 23 on the season.

"One more left," UW captain Adam Burish said. "We want to win a championship. That's what we came here to do. We didn't come here just to enjoy the atmosphere."

Enjoying the atmosphere might not have been on the agenda, but consider it an extra benefit for the Badgers, who played in front of their second largest crowd of the season Thursday night -- second only to the 40,890 that serenaded them at February's Frozen Tundra Classic at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Suffice it to say the Black Bears never had a chance.

The Badgers had 17,000-plus rabid, red-clad fans. Maine had most of section 204.

The Badgers had Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist Elliott -- who came in sporting a 252 minute, 15-second scoreless streak -- in goal. Maine had 19-year-old true freshman Ben Bishop in net.

The Badgers scored even-strength, with the man advantage, shorthanded and an empty-netter. Maine milked a few extra calls out of referee Dave Hansen here in America's Dairyland, but ended up 0-for-7 on the power play.

You get the idea.

There was no way Wisconsin was going to lose this game. End of story.

The first goal of the game was scored by Burish, a Madison native, who tried to send a pass through the deep slot and instead found Maine defenseman Travis Wight's left hip. The puck took a right turn off Wight and went by Bishop, who really had no chance at a save.

When Maine's Michel Leveille scored at 11:29 of the third period to make it a one-goal game, the Badgers answered 57 seconds later to extend the lead to 4-2.

"It's a tough environment to come into," Maine captain Greg Moore said. "It's kind of like having an extra guy on the ice. They captured the momentum well and fed off the crowd well."

Moore went on to say that sometimes such a decided home-ice advantage can work against a team, if things don't go the right way.

His Badger counterpart respectfully disagreed.

"It's not extra pressure, it's an excitement," Burish said. "It's exciting for our guys to have this kind of support. Walking to the rink today was awesome. People were high-fiving us and whooping it up. On the way here, we talked about making sure we have one more walk to the rink."

They do.

And Saturday night's meeting with BC will be the third time the Badgers and Eagles have met in the NCAA Tournament; UW won in 1990 on the way to its last national title, and BC won in 2000.

Both schools will be making their seventh appearance in a Frozen Four championship game.

Wisconsin (29-10-3) is making its first title-game appearance since 1992 (a 5-3 loss to Lake Superior). The Badgers are 5-2 in their seven championship games.

Boston College (26-12-3) won its last Frozen Four final in 2001 (defeating North Dakota 3-2 in overtime). The Eagles are 2-4 in title appearances.

The 2006 Frozen Four final also sets up another East vs. West matchup -- as in Hockey East vs. the WCHA. The two conferences have met in the title game in five of the last six seasons, the lone exception being last year's all-WCHA affair.

And to a lesser extent, it's an Eaves vs. Eaves matchup; the Wisconsin coach versus his two sons (Ben and Patrick) who played for BC.

"I'll have no mixed feelings at all [about facing BC]," coach Eaves said. "It's going to be two great teams, both well coached, both have tremendous goaltenders, both have talented people.

"The ultimate winner on Saturday night will be men's college hockey, because you're going to be treated to a terrific game."

Hockey fans in Madison already have been treated to one title this season, as the Wisconsin women won the national championship on March 26 against Minnesota. An assistant captain of that team, Nikki Burish, had a message for her brother when he departed for this weekend's Frozen Four.

"She told me, 'If you don't win, I've got one up on you for the rest of your life, so good luck, have fun, but you better win it,'" Burish said.

With only one game left in the college hockey season, the Badgers have put themselves in a position to do just that.

David Albright is the senior coordinator for college sports at ESPN.com. He can be reached at david.albright@espn3.com.