"The fact that Minnesota got selected is pretty baffling," junior winger Tammy Shewchuk said. "I don't see any justification. We've been ranked higher than them all year."

By seeding Minnesota third and Minnesota-Duluth second, the AWCHA guaranteed that a western team will reach the championship game for the first time ever.

"I think the committee was definitely trying to set up an East-West final," Shewchuk said. "I guess they think that's good for spreading the game of women's college hockey or something like that."

It was the third consecutive year that Minnesota had been selected for the AWCHA Tournament. The Golden Gophers got the majority of their wins from first-year hockey programs in the WCHA. Minnesota did post a respectable 7-3-0 record against teams from the ECAC.

The Golden Gophers had a few impressive wins the season. Minnesota blanked Brown 4-0, dealing the Bears their worst loss of the season. Minnesota also beat Dartmouth twice, by scores of 5-4 and 4-3.

The Gopher victories were, however, helped out by the fact that all the wins came at home in the earlier half of the season. Minnesota never had to face Tara Mounsey, Brown's first team All-American, due to the overlap between the field hockey and ice hockey seasons.

Dartmouth's selection as the No. 4 seed was due to its three victories over Harvard, and not much else. The Big Green managed an abysmal 8-9-0 record against teams with winning records, compared to 7-4-3 for Harvard.