Conference bragging rights on the line as Wisconsin faces Denver for the NCAA hockey title

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Bruno Mars Day was celebrated outside T-Mobile Arena on Friday, the recording artist honored for the musical impact he has had on Las Vegas.

Another celebration will occur inside the building Saturday when Wisconsin meets Denver for college hockey's national championship.

Both teams not only will be playing for the respective schools, but notable conference bragging rights will be on the line, and the Big Ten comes into this Frozen Four final with plenty to crow about.

Should the Badgers (24-12-2), who defeated North Dakota 2-1 in Thursday's semifinals, emerge as the NCAA's newest champion, it will continue a remarkable run for the conference. The Big Ten already is home to the current champions in football ( Indiana ), men's basketball ( Michigan ) and women's basketball ( UCLA ).

Only the Southeastern Conference in the 2006-07 academic year produced such a trifecta. Florida won the football and men's basketball titles and Tennessee cut down the nets in women's basketball.

A victory by Wisconsin, a No. 3 regional seed, would set the Big Ten apart because no conference has won championships in those three major sports and men's hockey as well. To be fair, the Big Ten is the only power conference that sanctions the sport, but it still doesn't discount the kind of run that conference is on at the moment.

“It just speaks volumes to the skill level, all up and down the sports,” Badgers defenseman Ben Dexheimer said. “First (priority) is the school. I think it would be really cool to do it for the Big Ten.”

Wisconsin has won six national championships, but its most recent was 20 years ago.

Not only would a Wisconsin victory further separate the Big Ten, it also would establish Madison as the country's college hockey capital. The women's team defeated Ohio State for the national championship for its second title in a row and third in four years.

That accomplishment would otherwise be another notch for the Big Ten since Wisconsin and Ohio State are members, but the conference doesn't sanction women's hockey.

“There’s so many people that are behind the scenes that do so much work that we want to win for them, too, as well as the guys in the locker room,” Wisconsin front-line center Gavin Morrissey said. “With the women’s team, what they’ve done, is so impressive over the last however many years. Just to catch up with them a little bit would be great.”

Denver, a No. 2 seed, has plenty to say lest anyone think this weekend will be a Wisconsin coronation. The Pioneers (28-11-3), in fact, are the standard in men's college hockey and what it takes to win this time of year.

Denver is going for its third championship in five years, and it already owns the overall record with 10 titles. Big Ten teams don't scare the Pioneers, who overcame being outshot 52-26 to defeat top overall seed Michigan 4-3 in double overtime in the semifinals.

“You come to Denver to play in these games,” Pioneers defenseman Cale Ashcroft said.

If Saturday's title game is also a referendum on conferences, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference doesn't have to back down to any league. The NCHC can make a strong argument it is the country's best regardless of what happens in the final, having claimed seven of the past nine national championships.

“It's a badge of honor for all of us to be part of the best conference in college hockey,” Denver coach David Carle said. “We’re proud to be members. I think a big part of our success as a league is how hard we are on each other all throughout the year, but certainly in the second half when it comes down to just conference play. We carry that torch very proudly. Look forward to doing again tomorrow night for our league.”

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Denver forward Clarke Caswell (25) celebrates after scoring against Michigan in the third period of a semifinal game of the NCAA Frozen Four men's college hockey tournament Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Denver defenseman Kent Anderson, right, celebrates after scoring against Michigan in the second overtime of a semifinal game in the NCAA Frozen Four men's college hockey tournament Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Wisconsin forward Ryan Botterill (21) scores against North Dakota goaltender Jan Spunar (35) in the first period of a semifinal game of the NCAA Frozen Four men's college hockey tournament Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Fans celebrate after Wisconsin defeated North Dakota in a semifinal game of the NCAA Frozen Four men's college hockey tournament Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century.

It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’s far side — never seen before by human eyes — but a total solar eclipse.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout.

All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft’s only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.

Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six-minute blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew’s arrival off the San Diego coast, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’s viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its communication blackout and again at splashdown.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew's reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feet (11,025 meters) per second — or 24,661 mph (39,668 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown,” reported Mission Control’s Rob Navias.

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.

During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“It just makes you want to continue to go back,” Radigan said on the eve of splashdown. “It's the first of many trips and we just need to continue on because there’s so much” more to learn about the moon.

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts' allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, U.S. Navy divers prepare to deploy in small boats from the well deck of USS John P. Murtha to recover Artemis II crew members NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist and NASA's Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule, right, separates from the service module above the Earth in preparation for splash down in the Pacific Ocean. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew, counterclockwise from top left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed the Moons curved limb during their journey around the far side of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed a bright portion of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)