HANOVER, N.H.--By selecting No. 4 St. Lawrence over No. 6 Minnesota for the final spot in the Frozen Four, the NCAA answered a number of lingering questions about how it would handle tournament selections.

Selection decisions were based solely on five criteria--a ratings-percentage index, record vs. teams above .500, head-to-head results, record vs. common opponents, and record in the past 16 games.

Minnesota and St. Lawrence never met head-to-head, but the Saints beat out the Gophers narrowly in three of the remaining four criteria and tied in one.

According to selection chair Carolyn Campbell-McGovern, Minnesota's hosting of the tournament had no effect on the selection decision.

Minnesota's regular-season WCHA title was also meaningless in the eyes of the selection committee.

Only wins, losses and ties were considered in the selection decision. Regular season final standings and conference tournament placings in and of themselves meant nothing. Conference tournament games counted just as much towards selection as regular season contests.

As has been true of all recent NCAA decisions across all sports, margin of victory had no effect on the selection decisions. The above was good news for St. Lawrence, who lost 7-1 to Harvard in the ECAC semfinals on Saturday.

One point of controversy in the selection decisions is the inconsistency between the ECAC and the WCHA tournaments. Minnesota was forced to play a third-place game against Wisconsin which it ultimately lost, while St. Lawrence's tournament ended with its semifinal loss to Harvard.