By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

It's easy to look at tonight's loss and say the season is over for the Terriers. Although there's a chance it is, there are still some not-so-far-fetched scenarios that would land BU in the NCAA tournament.

The Terriers currently sit 17th in the PairWise Rankings (PWR) used to determine the 16-team NCAA field. One of the 16 spots will be reserved for the Atlantic Hockey champion, as that conference currently has no one in the top 16 but gets an automatic bid for its champion.

That leaves 15 spots to be divvied up among the big four conferences (CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, WCHA). If you're unfamiliar with the PWR, you're probably asking yourself right now, "How the hell can the Terriers move from 17 into the top 15 if they don't have any more games to play?" And my answer would be, "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me either, but it can happen, and I'm about to show you how."

Before I run through these scenarios, I just have to give credit to USCHO.com's PairWise Predictor for letting me figure this out. I would never be able to figure any of it out on my own. College Hockey News has the same thing with their You Are The Committee tool.

Here is what's left of each conference tournament, besides Atlantic Hockey. I haven't found a scenario where anything that happens in Atlantic Hockey changes anything for BU, so I'm going to ignore that tourney unless I do. The number in parentheses is that team's seeding among the remaining teams in its tournament (read: not its original seeding in the tournament).

CCHA
(1) Michigan vs. (4) Western Michigan
(2) Notre Dame vs. (3) Miami

ECAC
(1) Yale vs. (4) Colgate
(2) Dartmouth vs. (3) Cornell

Hockey East
(1) BC vs. (4) Northeastern
(2) UNH vs. (3) Merrimack

WCHA
(1) North Dakota vs. (4) Colorado College/(5) Alaska-Anchorage
(2) Denver vs. (3) Minnesota-Duluth/(6) Bemidji State

The WCHA likes to be different and have two play-in games before the semifinals. The CCHA and ECAC also have consolation games that DO count toward the PWR. The easiest way to do this is to assume the higher seed wins every game and then work from there to try and figure out what BU needs. Here's what the higher seed winning every game gives us:

CCHA
Semifinal #1: Michigan beats Western Michigan
Semifinal #2: Notre Dame beats Miami
Championship: Michigan beats Notre Dame
Consolation: Miami beats Western Michigan

ECAC
Semifinal #1: Yale beats Colgate
Semifinal #2: Dartmouth beats Cornell
Championship: Yale beats Dartmouth
Consolation: Cornell beats Colgate

Hockey East
Semifinal #1: BC beats Northeastern
Semifinal #2: UNH beats Merrimack
Championship: BC beats UNH

WCHA
Play-in #1: Colorado College beats Alaska-Anchorage
Play-in #2: Minnesota-Duluth beats Bemidji State
Semifinal #1: North Dakota beats Colorado College
Semifinal #2: Denver beats Minnesota-Duluth
Championship: North Dakota beats Denver

Now, this scenario (all the higher seeds winning) does NOT get BU into the tournament. If this happens, the Terriers would finish 16th and be the last team out. So, straight chalk and BU's out.

But as you can probably guess from the fact that they would be 16th in that scenario, it wouldn't take a whole lot of upsets to get the Terriers in. That said, there is no scenario where only one upset gets BU in. There's one scenario where two upsets would get BU in, though.

-If Dartmouth loses to Cornell and then also loses in the consolation game, BU would be the last team in.

That's the easiest way for BU to get in, meaning the one that involves the fewest number of upsets. It's worth noting that in that scenario, BU would need Western Michigan to lose both its games. BU can still get in with this scenario and a couple other upsets in other spots, but Western Michigan winning a game cannot be one of them. The Terriers would also need all the big-four tourney winners to be teams that are already in the top 15, meaning Cornell beating Yale in the championship, for instance, would knock BU out.

There are a few other scenarios that get BU in as well, but I'm getting tired and starting to drive myself crazy with the PairWise Predictor. Just know that if you're a BU fan, you should be rooting against Dartmouth and Western Michigan and hoping no one outside the top 15 steals one of the big-four automatic berths.

I've also found scenarios where the following results can help BU:
-Colorado College loses to Alaska-Anchorage
-Northeastern beats BC, but then loses to UNH in the championship (Northeastern winning the championship would take away one of those 15 spots and knock BU out)
-UNH beats BC in the championship

And then there are some really crazy scenarios with a lot of upsets that somehow land BU in, too. One even involves Dartmouth winning the ECAC. But those are so unlikely (although certainly not impossible) that I won't delve into them here.

So just to reiterate, here is what BU fans should be rooting for:
-Dartmouth to lose
-Western Michigan to lose
-No non-top-15 tournament winners in the big four conferences

Update: Commenter brass bonanza has found a scenario that gets BU in with only one upset. If all the higher seeds win, but UNH beats BC in the Hockey East championship game, the Terriers would be the last team in. So if you're a BU fan, root for UNH over BC this weekend. It's worth noting that the same scenario except with UNH beating Northeastern in the final does NOT get BU in.