3/25/2022 – Michigan 5, American International 3 – 30-9-1 3/27/2022 – Michigan 7, Quinnipiac 4 – 31-9-1, Frozen Four The NCAA Hockey Tournament is one of the more absurd exercises on earth, distilling a sport that is highly random and variable on a game-to-game level into exactly that: a series of single games where everything is on the line. In terms of setting out to crown the "best" team, it falls far short of that aim, generally recognizing champions who were more lucky than good, although every team in the tournament is good. It's just that each game often hinges on a whim, a lightning bolt moment of chance decided by the margin of a few inches. We saw that twice this weekend in games Michigan was not involved in. Western Michigan defeated Northeastern after the puck crossed the goal line by the tiniest of margins before being swatted out by goaltender Devon Levi: Devon Levi turns the puck over behind the Northeastern goal, and Luke Grainger makes him pay with the overtime winning goal.@WMUHockey advances to the regional final. pic.twitter.com/YgJLJsxdTV — J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) March 25, 2022 Denver and Duluth were playing an incredibly intense game on Saturday that was decided by a bounce for the ages off the end boards, slingshotting back off Duluth's goalie Ryan Fanti, and laying free for the taking of Carter Savoie in the crease: Goal No 22 for Carter Savoie & the Pios are up. pic.twitter.com/6X1iP11Ioe — Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) March 26, 2022 Just like that, #5 Minnesota-Duluth had their terrific season ended because of an unlucky bounce. The NHL has set up their playoff structure so that the teams play four rounds of best four-out-of-seven series to determine a champion. It is not perfect, and sometimes randomness still reigns supreme, but that structure is designed to weed out as much of the inherent randomness to hockey as possible. The NCAA Tournament does the exact opposite, reducing games to dice rolls, where one mistake or one bad bounce can end a season and render the preceding forty games of work meaningless. To win the NCAA Tournament is the equivalent of an NHL team winning the first game of each of the four series they play in the playoffs, something that hasn't happened since 2013. Michigan has felt the cruel knife of the NCAA Tournament before. A catastrophic collapse against Colorado College in 2005 ended the season of a 30-7-3 Michigan team that had dominated the CCHA in the regular season. A stunning shutout at the hands of Air Force in the first round eliminated a one seed Michigan team back in 2009. A controversial no-goal call in OT against Miami (OH) in 2010 cost Michigan a chance to play in the Frozen Four in Detroit. And a loss to Cornell in OT of the first round as the second overall seed ended Michigan's 2012 season and the career of Shawn Hunwick. [David Wilcomes] The Wolverines rode into this tournament as the top overall seed with their dream team roster and the best chance to end the national title drought in fourteen years. I picked Michigan to advance out of the regional, as did David, and all of College Hockey News' experts. They had a favorable draw and were playing good hockey. But in the back of your head you knew there was a chance that disaster could strike. This is the NCAA Tournament, it's happened before, it could happen again. It didn't happen this weekend, but it felt like it could. Michigan fans got visions of 2005 amid a disastrous third period that saw Quinnipiac score three times in ten minutes to trim the seemingly insurmountable lead to one goal. Everything this team had worked for over the course of 40 games dangled in the balance, as Michigan clung to a rope for dear life, feeling angry Bobcats nipping at their toes. The dark clouds converged... and then they abated. A lifeline emerged from the Quinnipiac coaching staff and Michigan climbed that rope to safety as Michael Pastujov hit the empty net from just outside the faceoff circle. It was not pretty, but it doesn't have to be. In this insane tournament that haunts college hockey fanbases each March, you get no style points for winning in a non-heart attack-inducing manner. You do whatever it takes to move on to the next round, because your season is on the line every game, and in every second of every game. In an event where a bad bounce can ruin your season, you never, ever take NCAA Tournament wins for granted. [AFTER THE JUMP: More narrative & HockeyBullets]