Even before the Big 10 Tournament got started, we knew the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were pretty much a longshot to make the NCAA Tournament. It’s not that they were ridiculously far back in the rankings — it’s that they were on the cusp before the conference tournaments started. That means that even if they made it to the conference finals, other happenings around college hockey (such as upsets that would give automatic bids to lower ranked teams) would affect the Irish greatly.
Currently, the Irish are ranked #17 in the PairWise rankings as they get set to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight at 7:00 PM in Compton Family Ice Arena.