USIU Ice Hockey Team Left Out in Cold : Merrimack Gets NCAA Bid Over Gulls Despite 2 Losses to Them

The NCAA collegiate hockey championship tournament will be conducted without U.S. International University, it was announced Tuesday.

For the first time, one independent team has been invited to the postseason tournament, and a five-man NCAA selection committee voted to extend that bid to Merrimack (Mass.) College.

USIU (23-13) had hoped to receive a berth based on head-to-head competition with Merrimack (29-4), as well as strength of schedule.

The Gulls defeated Merrimack twice this season, 3-2 and 5-3. Also, USIU played just three games against Division III teams; Merrimack played 20.

“I’ve been coaching for 14 years, and this is one of the most frustrating things I’ve experienced,” said Brad Buetow, USIU’s coach. “Of the criteria, the NCAA weighed overall record the heaviest. It sends a statement that you may as well play a weak schedule and load up on wins, because that’s the only criteria.”

Michigan State Coach Ron Mason, a member of the selection committee, would say only that Merrimack had a better winning percentage.

“We debated on it for quite some time,” he said. “(USIU defeating Merrimack twice) was certainly looked at, but there’s a number of criteria, and head-to-head competition is just one aspect of it.

Regarding Merrimack playing a predominantly Division III schedule, Mason said: “To be honest, I think USIU played a more difficult schedule, but it’s very difficult to evaluate schedules because both teams are independents.”

The rest of the 12-team tournament field has not been selected. The other positions will be filled by conference winners and will not be determined until after this weekend’s playoffs.

“The interesting part of it is that independents make up one of the 12 tournament teams, but I don’t think any of the independents are among the top 12 teams in the country,” Mason said.

“But as far as college hockey, it’s very good (that an independent is now invited) because it gives them something to shoot for at the end of the year.”

USIU won 18 of its final 22 games this season. Three of its final four losses were to teams ranked in the NCAA top 20, including No. 13 Denver University and No. 7 Michigan State (twice).

“I’ve never been more proud of my kids,” Buetow said. “We had a great year. Only seven teams in the country had more wins than us.

“It’s a real empty feeling. You tell the kids there are ups and downs that you have to live with, but this is something we couldn’t explain to them. You preach hard work and honesty, and our kids did everything they could, and it didn’t matter.”

According to Buetow, USIU had inquired about the possibility of facing Merrimack in a playoff game this weekend, but Merrimack refused.