We're live from the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Bucky's 5th Quarter hockey editor Chuck Schwartz here ready for game two of a WCHA series between your Wisconsin Badgers and North Dakota.

Last night North Dakota beat Wisconsin 5-3 behind a late goal by Stephane Pattyn.

As always, feel free to leave your comments, questions and predictions below!

FINAL SCORE--NORTH DAKOTA 4, WISCONSIN 2

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North Dakota Takes Opener, 4-3

GRAND FORKS, ND. - More than any other sport, the game of hockey is decided by bounce here, or a bounce there. Friday night both teams caught their share, but it was North Dakota who undoubtedly was the beneficiary of the most important bounce of the night.

With the game tied at three with less than two minutes to play in third period, UND's Swiss army knife Joe Gleason sent a pass to the back door that was deflected and came straight to UND captain Mario Lamoureux in the slot.

With Wisconsin net-minder Joel Rumpel having to re-adjust, Lamoureux fired one on net. Rumpel, the athletic goaltender from Swift Current, Saskatchewan made an incredible play to get to the post to deny Lamoureux's shot.

Unfortunately for Rumpel and the Badgers, the rebound shot right back to Lamoureux who fired a pass back door to Stephane Pattyn who was able to tap it into the net with multiple Badgers near by.

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We're live from the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Bucky's 5th Quarter hockey editor Chuck Schwartz here ready for the WCHA battle between your Wisconsin Badgers and North Dakota.

Wisconsin swept Alaska Anchorage last weekend at the Kohl Center. North Dakota split with St. Cloud at the National Hockey Center their last time out.

As always, feel free to leave your comments, questions and predictions below!

UPDATE: FINAL SCORE, NORTH DAKOTA 4, WISCONSIN 3

They said my future was dark
You see me now?
Just look around
I'm beamin'

Lupe Fiasco--I'm Beamin'

Seemingly left for dead a month ago, the Wisconsin men's hockey team is not only relevant again but they are charging ahead and not looking back.

In just 10th place in the WCHA a few weeks ago, the Badgers are now just two points back of sixth place North Dakota for the final home ice spot in the WCHA playoffs.

The Badgers are also relevant again in the discussion for an at large bid in the NCAA tournament. Not even a team under consideration a few weeks back, the Badgers are now 23rd in the pairwise with a chance to make an upward move this weekend with two games against North Dakota.

This surge comes as the Badgers are playing arguably their best hockey of the season. Wisconsin is 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

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The Badgers have a long tradition of defensive excellence under Bo Ryan. A combination of gritty competitiveness, strong defensive fundamentals and a slow-as-molasses pace has helped the Badgers consistently rank among the top defensive teams in the nation. This season is no different. Wisconsin's opponents have scored just 49.6 points per game, giving the Badgers the nation's top scoring defense

On the heels of one of the Badgers' finest defensive performances of the season -- one in which Wisconsin held the Big Ten's top statistical offense to just 50 points -- I thought it appropriate to see how they've fared against other top offenses. The chart after the jump shows statistics from games against the Badgers' five strongest offensive opponents. The teams' national rank in scoring offense is in parentheses next to each school name.

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We're back once again with our weekly "Take Five" series where we take a deeper look into the hockey Badgers opposition by chatting with local beat writers from around the country. This week Wisconsin is packing up the bus (errrr charter plane) and hitting the road as they travel to Grand Forks to take on North Dakota.

Earlier this week I was able to chat with North Dakota beat writer Brad Elliott Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF), who covers UND for the Grand Forks Herald. Brad also does a fantastic job with his GF Herald Hockey Blog which is dedicated to coverage of the men's and women's hockey teams at UND.

Wisconsin is coming off a home sweep last weekend against Alaska Anchorage. North Dakota split on the road at St. Cloud State.

This week I was able to chat with Brad about UND's goaltending situation, who has stepped up in the absense of outstanding defensemen like the departed Chay Genoway, as well as his prediction for the weekend.

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MADISON, Wis. - It wasn't pretty, but the No. 25 Wisconsin Badgers (17-5, 6-3 Big Ten) pulled off a key home win over the No. 16 Indiana Hoosiers (16-5, 4-5) 57-50 at the Kohl Center. After starting the Big Ten conference slate 1-3, the Badgers have rattled off five straight wins, two of them over ranked teams, and now find themselves just a half game out of first place.

Ben Brust led the way for the Badgers on Thursday night, putting up 13 points to lead all scorers. Ryan Evans had 12 points on the strength of his free throw shooting, where he went 8-for-8 from the line, to go along with nine rebounds. Senior point guard Jordan Taylor had ten points, as did junior forward Mike Bruesewitz. It's that kind of team effort that has sustained the Badgers through this streak, which has kept them in the thick of the Big Ten race.

"I think we had to just keep believing that we had a good team in here and we knew that," junior forward Jared Berggren said after the game. "Despite the struggles at the start of the Big Ten, we knew what we had here. We knew we had guys that weren't going to give up easy and we were turning things around."

That turn around hasn't always been easy, and it certainly wasn't on Thursday night in the Kohl Center. The Badgers continued their hot-and-cold shooting trend to start the game, opening the contest 4-of-6 from the floor, but finishing the half 12-of-34.

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So there's a pretty big game tonight. The Badgers are looking to re-establish their usual home court advantage against the Hoosiers, who got themselves back on track win a win against Penn State. The Badgers are also trying to extend their winning streak over Indiana to nine games, which would be the longest streak in series history for the Badgers.

The game should be a good barometer for the Badgers, who are still in place to contend for a Big Ten title despite their three conference losses. After losing two conference games at home already this season, Wisconsin cannot afford to drop another big game in the arena where they are usually so dominant. It should be a good one.

Feel free to leave your questions, comments, and predictions below, and remember to abide by site rules! If you're on Twitter, feel free to follow my updates from the Kohl Center: @JohnVeldhuis.