2026 Frozen Four semifinals recap: Wisconsin stuns, Denver survives

Hockey is maybe the most random sport we've got, so it's rare that any outcome is a surprise, especially once you get to the Frozen Four.

But for Wisconsin, a team that's sub-.500 since mid-January and had the sixth-worst team save percentage in the country, to come into the program's biggest game in 16 years and almost completely shut down North Dakota's third-ranked offence? That's a jaw-dropper.

The Badgers scored twice early in the first period and ground the UND offence into ineffectual dust for most of the remainder, en route to an eyebrow-raising 2-1 win.

The Badgers are through to the national title game for the first time since 2010. It wasn't always easy, but they rode it out.

"If you've been on this journey, as I have with this group, sometimes we make things a little more difficult