Strange things happen, however. A few years ago, you'll recall, UMD was on a tear near the end of the season, finished right on par with St Cloud State, swept St Cloud in the WCHA playoffs and wound up beating a very good Colorado College team for 3rd place at the final five...only to watch St Cloud, which had finished its season on an 0-6 tailspin, get an NCAA bid. They made it 0-7 the following weekend by getting beat by BU.
NCAA logic? St Cloud's strong wins in October.