BOSTON — Greg Carvel hasn’t been glued to his computer studying the NCAA Hockey Tournament picture, but he knows UMass entered the weekend on the bubble
They missed a chance to solidify their chances as they fell to Boston College, 8-1, in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals on Friday, leaving them with anxious moments and nothing they can control as conference tournaments progress around the country.
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“I’m aware of it. I’m not on the computer doing, if this guy wins or that guy wins. But you hear things,” Carvel said. “I was pretty focused on the game tonight. Quinnipiac lost. That doesn’t help our cause. It’ll come down to the wire. If we make it great. If we lose, we have only ourselves to blame.”
Unlike with basketball which fills and seeds its tournaments using a committee, the 16-team NCAA men’s ice hockey field is filled by math and seeded by rules. The PairWise is an elaborate computer formula that determines who gets in after at-large bids are determined.
The Minutemen were No. 14 after Friday’s loss. Results of conference tournament games on Friday and Saturday will impact the final rankings.
If UMass does get in, they’ll play in Springfield as the host team at the MassMutual Center. Given that chance, Carvel said he’d like to see his team revert back to how well in played in its quarterfinal win over Providence.
“We try to remind them how they played last weekend. We played a really good road game,” he said. “I don’t think we gave up an odd-man rush in Providence. Tonight obviously a lot different. We played so well last weekend and fell off so far this weekend.”
