ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Their ravaged faces told a story filled with pain, dismay and genuine shock.

Aaron Bendickson had blood oozing from a stitched-up gash above his nose. Scott Gudmandson blinked through eyes that were red from tears. Davis Drewiske stood there in what appeared to be a clinical daze.

All were having an extremely difficult time coming to grips with the fact the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team may have seen its season end Saturday night.

The 13th-ranked Badgers turned in perhaps their most dominating performance of the last five months, but still endured a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Cloud State that knocked them out of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.

"They put their hearts and souls on the ice for each other and the game didn't fall their way," UW coach Mike Eaves said.

The Badgers played infinitely better than they did Friday during a 3-0 loss - dominating massive chunks of the game en route to a 49-21 advantage in shots - but it wasn't enough to avoid being swept in the first-round, best-of-three series before a crowd of 4,270 at the National Hockey Center.

"It's tough on everyone," said Bendickson, a sophomore center who played an outstanding all-around game. "I don't have the words for it."

Right winger Ryan Lasch got the winner for the Huskies with 3 minutes, 57 seconds gone in the extra session when he followed up his own rebound from the left circle and beat Gudmandson, the freshman backup who took over at the start of the second period.

"I'm very frustrated that we lost, but everyone can walk out of here with their heads high," said Drewiske, a senior defenseman and captain.

Conventional wisdom says the Badgers (15-16-7) won't be in the 16-team NCAA tournament field when it's unveiled a week from today.

Woven into that reality is the bitter fact that UW will host the Midwest Regional March 29 and 30 at the Kohl Center, and the Badgers would be placed there if they qualifiy.

That door is not completely closed — the latest unofficial PairWise rankings had UW situated 13th — but the odds appear as long as the team's bus ride home to Madison.

"Sometimes the game isn't fair," Eaves said. "Sometimes life isn't fair."

Bendickson, Drewiske and sophomore left winger Blake Geoffrion (power play) scored for the Badgers, who played gamely in the face of an uncharacteristically poor outing by junior goaltender Shane Connelly.

One night after serving as the lone bright spot for UW, Connelly allowed two soft first-period goals and was lifted for Gudmandson (10 saves).

The Huskies (19-14-5) prevailed in large part because they got some timely production from their marquee players. Lasch led the WCHA in scoring during the regular season and goaltender Jase Weslosky, who blossomed down the stretch, was credited with 46 saves.

None of those stops was bigger than the one Weslosky made on UW senior left winger Matthew Ford 3:25 into the extra session. Ford took a beautful feed from freshman center Kyle Turris and zoomed alone down the slot for a backhander that Weslosky denied.

"That was as big a play as the (winning) goal," St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko said.

Motzko said his front-line players were clutch on a night when the Badgers imposed their will in every zone and deserved a better fate.

"They thumped us. They were physical. They won every battle," he said.

Connelly allowed a goal on the first puck he saw — a shot from the left point by defenseman Aaron Brocklehurst 26 seconds into the game — and nearly got yanked midway through the first when it appeared he misplayed a puck behind the net and it led to an apparent goal by Lasch.

Referee Don Adam disallowed it — one of two overturned by video replay, one for each team — because Connelly had been interfered with.

"He struggled from the first shot," Eaves said of Connelly, who allowed another soft goal to defenseman Matt Stephenson late in the first. "We had no choice (to lift him)."

The Badgers had some great chances to win, including one in overtime when Bendickson had an open shot from the slot, but fanned on the puck.

"God, you know, I wish I could have that back," he said.

While the Huskies head to next weekend's WCHA Final Five, UW coaches and players are left to await their fate.

"We just have to hope," Bendickson said.