Question their worthiness all you want. Question their good fortune, too.

But their resolve? Uh-uh.

Members of the University of Wisconsin men's hockey team got to stick their tongues out and do a collective na-na pooh-pooh Saturday night to all the hecklers who said they didn't deserve to be playing for a national title.

UW is one step closer to that objective thanks to a resounding 6-2 victory over Denver in the NCAA Midwest regional semifinals, staged before a highly partisian crowd of 9,968 at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers were the subject of scorn from a variety of angles -- even some of their own fans disowned them in a local Internet chat room -- because the team received an at-large berth in the 16-team NCAA tournament field and a home-ice advantage with unprecedented baggage: a losing record (15-16-7).

Never mind that a computer formula determined the 10 at-large entries. Never mind that the Western Collegiate Hockey Association had an unprecedented six qualifiers, including UW, because of its overall strength. Never mind that the regional sites were chosen years ago.

"We've heard it all week," UW sophomore defenseman Jamie McBain said of the criticism. "It was something we tried to tune out, but something we also grabbed and try and take and motivate us just to go out there and play hockey and prove people wrong."

It worked for one night.

No sooner did the Badgers dispatch with one WCHA powerhouse with seven national titles on its resume, they get another today when they face North Dakota for the right to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four in Denver April 10 to 12.

"We're just out there to prove a lot of people wrong," UW sophomore right winger Michael Davies said.

Davies scored two goals, while McBain (power play), freshman defenseman Cody Goloubef, sophomore left winger John Mitchell and senior defenseman and captain Davis Drewiske (empty net) added one apiece.

Junior goaltender Shane Connelly played extremely well on the way to 30 saves, but he got some serious help in the form of four Denver shots that hit a post or the crossbar in the first two periods.

The biggest one-game outburst for the Badgers since a 7-2 win at Denver Jan. 12 affected two notable trends.

The Pioneers (26-14-1) came in having compiled an 11-1-2 mark at the Kohl Center, including five straight wins, since the building opened for hockey in 1998.

UW, meanwhile, improved to 11-0 against Denver in postseason history. That includes a 3-0 mark in NCAA tournament play.

The Badgers began the night with questions about how they would generate energy and cultivate a game pace after sitting idle since their ouster from the WCHA playoffs March 15.

"They scored early and forced us into a position where we had to try to play catch-up," Denver coach George Gwozdecky said of goals by Davies in the first and McBain in the second.

The Badgers ended the night with a four-goal third period that broke open a taut duel and put it 60 minutes away from their 12th berth in the Frozen Four since 1970.

That Denver was seven days removed from winning the WCHA Final Five -- beating North Dakota and Minnesota in the process -- helped UW coach Mike Eaves make a point about how perception isn't always reality.

"With people looking at our record and saying, 'They don't deserve to be here,' I think when you see a game like this it speaks to the strength of the WCHA in terms of its level of play and the strength of schedule that we had," he said.

UW grabbed the initial lead 8 minutes, 59 seconds into the game when Davies tapped in an easy rebound at the left post. The sequence that led to it was a little more involved.

Sophomore left winger Blake Geoffrion chased down a loose puck behind the net and fed sophomore defenseman Jamie McBain for a one-timer from the right point. The shot hit the stick of Pioneers center Brandon Vossberg along the way, forcing goaltender Peter Mannino (20 saves) to make an awkward pad stop that steered the puck right to Davies.

McBain made it 2-0 when courtesy of a new wrinkle on the power play -- he found room near the right post on the power play and tipped a pass from senior defenseman Josh Engel past Mannino midway through the second.

"We got the start that we needed," Eaves said.

Connelly was zoomed in, but he got some serious help in the first 40 minutes.

In the first period, a shot from the right circle by center Tyler Ruegsegger dinged the far post before center Tyler Bozak drove to the net on the power play and nicked the crossbar with a backhander.

In the second, a backhander by Ruegsegger at the end of a 2-on-1 clipped the crossbar, and left winger Anthony Mainai hit the right post on the power play.

"It's funny how this game works sometimes," Gwozdecky said. "It's fractions of an inch. We had our chances."