I'd imagine it has something to do with basically being able to cherry-pick the best teams from the WCHA and the CCHA.
Yep. NoDak, UMD, St Cloud and Denver were typical playoff qualifiers from the old WCHA (three out the four of those teams have made the tournament every year since 2008), while Miami has been a virtual lock (missing last season, but qualifying the seven years prior to that). Really, Omaha is the only major surprise out of those six teams.
Really, it's a combination of a great year for those teams and a bad year collectively for B1G teams. Michigan is down, but made 22 straight tournaments before missing in 2012/13 (when they were still part of the CCHA). In the last ten years, they've made seven of 10 tournaments (missing three straight).
Wisconsin is hit-or-miss typically, having made six of the last 10 tournaments, while Michigan State is slightly behind, making four of the last 10. The Gophers are more consistent, having made seven out of the last 10 tournaments (they had a similar three-straight-misses streak as Michigan a few years ago, as we all painfully remember).
I would say in a
typical year, based on recent history, we could expect two of the six current B1G teams to qualify (most often Michigan and Minnesota, but in other years a combination of one of those plus Wisconsin or Michigan State). In a good year, three, and in a bad year, one. This is a bad year and likely - given history - not some indication of a "new normal." The normal is
probably better than what we witnessed this year. Of course, trends start somewhere, so we can't say with any certainty that it
isn't the beginning of the end.
That's not to say the league wouldn't benefit greatly from having another "consistent" qualifier in the sense of Michigan or Minnesota. The hope would be that Penn State could become that - and they're improving as a program, so the potential is there. Of course, it will take time, time that the league may not have before perceptual damage becomes something more permanent. Beyond that, it would take adding a team (or two) willing to pour in big bucks to facilities/coaching/etc. to catch up. We'll see if it happens.