I don't disagree that we should have made it, I just think we didn't play well enough to cry foul that we were left out Being number 8 RPI (USCHO actually has us at 7) and number 4 in conference (even with the unbalanced schedule) is not the kind of performance that screams "mortal lock." If we had managed to do better than 0-4-1 against UW or 2-4 against OSU, we probably aren't having this conversation. If we had won two games at the WCHA tournament, we definitely wouldn't be. When you don't play well enough on the ice to leave no room for debate, then you are at the mercy of the process.
I feel the same way about the men's team. I think the B1G system of win % is less equitable than point %, but I am not going to complain about it, because we were in a fight with Wisconsin, and Wisconsin took 3 of 4 from us (including 2 thumpings in our own building). Win one more of those games, and we are B1G champs under either system.
I remember being a young kid complaining about the refs on a drive home from a youth hockey game I played in. My dad turned to me and said "when you play a perfect game, and there is nothing left for you to improve, but you still lose, that's when its time to start talking about the refs." That always stuck with me.