At around 11:00 on Sunday night, the Harvard women's hockey received the startling news that its season was over.
Despite being ranked No. 2 in the country going into the ECAC Tournament and never falling out of the top three spots in the national rankings all year, the Crimson was denied a spot in the four-team AWCHA National Championships.
"We're obviously shocked that we're not considered one of the four best teams in the country," Harvard Coach Katey Stone said. "We certainly feel that we are. That's what happens when you leave things in other people's hands."
Harvard (21-5-3, 17-4-3 ECAC) could have secured an automatic bid into the championships by winning the ECAC Tournament this past weekend, but in the semis, the Crimson fell to Dartmouth (20-11-0, 17-7-0) for the third time this season.
The loss left Harvard's fate in the hands of the six-person AWCHA selection committee. Brown, the ECAC champions, and Minnesota-Duluth, the WCHA champions, both earned automatic bids to the championships, leaving two at-large spots.
The committee chose to give the remaining bids to Dartmouth and Minnesota (30-6-1).
"I'm baffled that we could fall from No. 2 to No. 5 in the country in one day," Stone said.
The selection of Minnesota as the third seed in the tournament was a complete shock to the Crimson, since Harvard had blown out the Golden Gophers 8-3 at Minnesota in their only meeting of the season.
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