According to the Minnesota Daily, the general feeling among the players in the Minnesota locker room was that their season was over after finishing the year winless in its last four. Minnesota Coach Laura Halldorson refused to speculate on what would happen when tournament selections are announced on Sunday.
If Brown beats Dartmouth, the selection picture is slightly more complicated. The Bears have the most to prove in the ECAC tournament, as late-season lapses have left them with the smallest margin of error among the semifinalists. Nevertheless, if Brown goes on to win the conference tournament, the Harvard-St. Lawrence loser would have a bleak chance of being selected.
The bottom line is that the team who captures the ECAC tournament this weekend will essentially be guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four. Although there is no official automatic berth on the line, the ECAC championship should be as hotly contested as ever this season.