We've not heard the last about that controversial loss the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team suffered over the weekend.

The school took the unusual step of filing an official appeal with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association late Monday afternoon, seeking, at minimum, a review of the procedures and circumstances surrounding a 3-2 loss Friday at Denver.

"I think we have to go through the due process," UW coach Mike Eaves said Monday afternoon during his weekly press conference. "We would not be diligent in not doing that."

UW senior associate athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who accompanied the Badgers on the trip to Denver; UW associate AD Sean Frazier, who oversees men's hockey; UW associate AD Steve Waterfield, who oversees rules compliance; and Linda Baumann, the UW Athletic Board representative to the WCHA, are involved in the process.

According to WCHA bylaws, the school had 48 hours from the end of the series to file an appeal. The league has 36 hours to respond to it.

A formal appeal triggers a review to be conducted by a committee of WCHA faculty representatives. Bill Hudson, the faculty representative from St. Cloud State and chair of the WCHA executive committee, will appoint the committee members.

At issue is a decision by WCHA referee Randy Schmidt to disallow an apparent last-second, game-tying goal by Badgers senior right winger Matthew Ford.

TV replays showed Ford scored with 0.9 seconds left. Schmidt signaled for the goal and the red goal light went on. The light and game clock are synched up so that it can't be illuminated if time has expired.

A witness said Schmidt took a cursory look at one frame in his review: the one where the clock showed 00:00. That overhead shot showed the puck in the crease, so Schmidt apparently assumed it hadn't crossed the goal line.

In fact, the puck had already crossed the goal line at that point and the puck had come back out of the net.

According to a source, the UW appeal asks that a point be awarded to the Badgers, which could turn out to be extremely valuable in the league standings. Six teams currently are separated by six points behind first-place Colorado College and second-placed Denver.

A year ago, UW missed qualifying for the NCAA tournament on the strength of one non-conference win. That memory looms large now given the school will host the Midwest Regional and UW will play at the Kohl Center if it qualifies for the 16-team field.

Eaves said that as far as WCHA officials are concerned, the outcome of the tainted game cannot be changed. According to Eaves, there is nothing in the league bylaws that would have specifically precluded the teams from playing a 5-minute overtime prior to the start of the series finale Saturday night, a game won by the Badgers 7-2.

Can we get anything back from this? I'm doubtful in that," Eaves said. "But at least move forward so there are mechanisms in place that should something like this happen again, on many front, it won't be allowed to."

WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod has not returned multiple phone calls since issuing a three-paragraph statement Saturday acknowledging that a mistake had been made.

Doug Spencer, the WCHA associate director for public relations, said Monday that McLeod was traveling between Nashville, Tenn. — where McLeod was attending the NCAA convention — and his home in Denver. Spencer has worked with the league for 22 years and couldn't recall a step like this being taken by a school.

"We acknowledged our error," he said. "Everybody regrets what happened, but we move forward."