With Internet access from their cell phones and a thirst for all for the latest info, Michael Davies and Blake Geoffrion are popular members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team this weekend.

While UW has a bye, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season is coming to an end with three series having a direct bearing on where the Badgers will open the postseason.

"I'll be keeping up to date," Davies, the sophomore right winger, said.

Things didn't go very well Friday night for the Badgers, who fell from sole possession of fourth place into a tie for fifth heading into series finales tonight.

The top five teams get home ice for the opening round of the WCHA playoffs, which begin next Friday.

Minnesota State-Mankato passed UW by virtue of a 5-2 victory over Michigan Tech, while St. Cloud State moved into a tie for fifth thanks to a 1-1 overtime standoff with North Dakota.

Meanwhile, Minnesota moved within two points of the Badgers and St. Cloud courtesy of a 4-1 victory over Minnesota-Duluth. There are a multitude of scenarios facing UW.

• If St. Cloud wins or ties tonight, it will pass the Badgers and host them in a best-of-three series starting next Friday.

• If North Dakota wins, UW will retain fifth place and host St. Cloud no matter what Minnesota does because the Badgers have the pertinent tiebreaker (most conference wins).

• In the event of a three-way tie for fifth between the Badgers, Minnesota and St. Cloud, UW would get the highest seed based on a subset of tiebreaking criteria and host St. Cloud.

In head-to-head comparisons with St. Cloud and Minnesota during the regular season, the Badgers are a plus-one (beating St. Cloud 3-1 and breaking even with Minnesota 1-1-2).

Meanwhile, St. Cloud lost to UW, but was 1-0-1 vs. Minnesota, making the Huskies even. The Gophers split two series with UW, but were 0-1-1 vs. St. Cloud, making them minus-one.

"Either way, we're not worried about it," Geoffrion, the sophomore left winger, said. "I think we can win on the road with this team even though we don't have the greatest record (4-7-5), I think we have a lot of character in the (dressing) room."