Arizona Hockey: ACHA voters go with Rutgers over Wildcats for final tournament spot

Rutgers in. Arizona out.

That was the decision by the ACHA voters on Wednesday. Rutgers was selected as the 18 seed in the national tournament, while Arizona was left out of the mix.

"In our mind, it doesn't feel right" said Coach Sean Hogan.

Rutgers (14-8-2) played a much weaker schedule than the Wildcats (15-20-1) this season, but it appears the voters went with the record over the quality of opponents faced. You can find the entire bracket here.

"We're not gonna blame the system or make excuses. It was on us, we had chances to win more games."

Arizona closed the season with three consecutive weekends where they were forced to travel to highly ranked opponents, going 1-5 in those games, with the lone win against then No. 10 Liberty. After being swept at No. 2 Arizona State and No. 3 Minot State, it left the Cats' fate in the hands of the selection committee.

In regards to the Minot series, Coach Hogan said that "We did not play well, which is disappointing that time of year."

"It was ultimately on us to compete and to make sure we're not in a situation where we're not on the bubble."

Now that Arizona knows it will not be traveling to Chicago for the tournament, the focus of the team is 100% on the series against Arizona State next weekend at Tucson Convention Center. The Wildcats have not beaten the Sun Devils in the last 30 games played between the two schools. The seniors have only this weekend left to take down ASU.

"We're gonna have to make sure that we don't let this negative energy here into our week of preparation....ready to work hard and ready to beat ASU for the seniors" said Hogan.