Wisconsin returning to prominence ahead of schedule

This article is presented by Everything College Hockey

The last few years have been a challenge for the Wisconsin Badgers, to be charitable.

One of the big programs in college hockey history went through several seasons of poor results, and in fact, finished above .500 just once in the seven seasons Don Granato was the coach. And so, over the summer, the Badgers let Granato go and replaced him with one of the premier coaches in college hockey, Mike Hastings.

Hastings was the mastermind behind the rise of Minnesota State to the top of the CCHA; his club had the best record in college hockey over a period of a decade. He needed a new challenge and no doubt got an offer he couldn't refuse.

But the program was not in the best of states, with a number of players failing to live up to previous hype a