When Wisconsin and Denver meet in the NCAA Midwest regional at the Kohl Center Saturday, they will share quite a few distinctions that go beyond their long-time membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

 One is obvious:

 Badgers coach Mike Eaves and counterpart George Gwozdecky are former teammates, linemates and UW grads.

 Other are a little more subtle:

 Denver won the NCAA title in 2005 and UW in 2006, but neither got a chance to defend their crowns because they failed to make the national tournament field the following year.

 Both teams are led in scoring by freshmen centers from the British Columbia Junior Hockey League. Tyler Bozak (18-16-34) paced Denver in his first season removed from Victoria, while Kyle Turris (11-22-33) tops the Badgers one year after playing with Burnaby.

 Both teams have multiple players who have skated in a NCAA championship game. UW has four (senior defenseman Davis Drewiske, senior defenseman Josh Engel, senior defenseman Kyle Klubertanz and junior center Ben Street). The Pioneers have two (senior goaltender Peter Mannino and senior defenseman Andrew Thomas).

 Both teams probably wish they had a current NHL center in the Western Conference who would be a college senior this season. Paul Stastny (Colorado) and Joe Pavelski (San Jose) turned pro after their sophomore seasons in 2005-06.