"It's going to be tough for a team that loses the first game," Harvard Captain Lane MacDonald said, "and realizes it has to come back and win two in a row. The first game is going to be the key."

The national semifinals and championship game will be held March 30-April 1 in St. Paul.

Admitting that this year's selection was full of "tough calls," committee members did manage to exclude three potential tournament teams--Vermont, Illinois-Chicago and Merrimack.

The committee chose Providence over Vermont because the Catamounts won only two of 10 games against tournament teams, while the Friars posted a 5-10-1 record.

In the case of Merrimack (27-7), last year's tournament representative from the independent ranks, the from the independent ranks, committee members said that St. Cloud St. played a consistently stronger schedule against Division I schools.

Chicago-Illinois' chances for a seed ended yesterday when it lost to Bowling Green in the CCHA consolation game.