The University of Wisconsin men's hockey team made history last season when it became the first team with a losing record to qualify for the NCAA tournament without being a conference tournament champion.

It appears the Badgers may also be the last to do so.

The NCAA Division I men's hockey committee recommended this week that teams must compile at least a .500 record to be considered for selection into the national tournament.

That group also recommended that the champion of College Hockey America receive an automatic berth into the tournament even though the struggling conference will field just four teams next season, two short of the standard minimum.

The remaining four teams in CHA -- Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State, Niagara and Robert Morris -- are a combined 1-4 all-time in NCAA tournament play, with Niagara defeating New Hampshire in a regional opener in 2000.

The Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet will make a final decision on the recommendations when it convenes in September.

The NCAA committee clearly had the Badgers in mind when crafting the first rule, because the press release noted that one team qualified with a losing record this past season. Feedback from the coaches association and conference offices was cited as a cause for proposing the rule change, which is being pushed forward "in the best interest of the sport," the release states.

The Badgers were 15-14-7 heading into the WCHA playoffs last season, then were swept at St. Cloud State in a first-round series to fall to 15-16-7. But they qualified for the NCAA tournament based on their performance in the PairWise Ratings, a statistical formula that mimics the one used by the selection committee to determine at-large berths to the 16-team field.

Making Wisconsin's inclusion more controversial was the fact it got to play its tournament games at the Kohl Center, the product of an NCAA rule that requires teams in the tournament field to be assigned to a regional they are hosting. That rule was enacted to boost gate revenues.

The Badgers fared well in Midwest Regional play, coming within an overtime goal of reaching the Frozen Four. They ousted Denver 6-2 and carried a lead into the third period against North Dakota before falling 3-2 in overtime.

The NCAA committee noted in its release that the "no losing records" rule is already applied in sports such as men's and women's soccer, softball and women's volleyball.

In other discussions, the committee:

* Will recommend Midwest and West regional sites for 2010 and 2011 to the Championships/Sport Management Cabinet this summer.

* Selected game times for the 2009 Frozen Four, which will be held in Washington, D.C., for the first time. Semifinal games will be at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Central time, April 9. The championship game is at 6 p.m. Central time, April 11.

* Decided timeouts at the championship will be two minutes from whistle to puck drop.

* Selected Steve Cady, senior associate athletics director at Miami (Ohio), as committee chair.