It is a scene college sports fans understand well in the midst of March.

An NCAA team waits by the phone for a call telling them whether or not they are in the year-end tournament, through which the national champion is determined. Their regular season resume is stocked; their case is a good one ...

... And the news is still not good.

"We were definitely disappointed," Milwaukee School of Engineering junior hockey player Brian Soik said. "We did just about everything we could have done. We had two key games earlier this year against teams that made the NCAA tournament, Hobart and St. Norbert's ... a win against one of those teams would have definitely helped us. Besides that, we did everything we could have. We're disappointed but we don't regret how the season went."

The Raiders actually won their conference tournament, winning a 5-2 meeting over Marian in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association championship March 5 to claim their second straight Harris Cup. But with no automatic berth applying to that conference, and only 10 teams making the NCAA Division 3 hockey field, a title and 21-5-1 record for MSOE was just not enough to impress the tournament committee.

"Each and every year, just like in the Final Four in basketball, there are teams that get left out," said head coach Mark Ostapina, in his fifth year with the program. "Division 1 hockey is the same thing. It is the NCAA tournament and there are some very good teams along with us that are going to be home watching."

Because the conference falls one short of the requisite seven teams, and one team (Minnesota-Crookston) has Division 2 standing in a Division 3 conference, the MCHA fails to meet the necessary criteria for an automatic berth. While Midwestern entrants such as St. Olaf in Northfield, Minn. (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference) and the University of Wisconsin-Superior (Northern Collegiate Hockey Association) get automatic trips and St. Norbert in Green Bay (NCHA) stands as one of the top teams in D3 hockey, the rest of the tourney field came from conferences on the East Coast.

"Numbers and money wise with D-3, it's not a scenario where it's making money for the NCAA," Ostapina said. "So we're stuck with only 10 (teams in the tourney). We just expanded from nine last year. I think it's a little bit of regional scenario where the East region has the numbers. They kind of hold the trump card, so to speak."

But even with the disappointment, the Raiders have plenty to feel good about, not the least of which is a crop of returning players that includes all five of their all-conference choices among the 12 spots in the MCHA.

Soik, a native of Stevens Point, shines brightest as the conference player of the year and Harris Cup tournament MVP. He averaged 1.85 points per 20 conference contests to lead the MCHA, just ahead of teammates Lee Swallow (1.80) and Blair Hanberg (1.68) in second and third place, respectively. Along with junior forward Michael Duta, junior goalkeeper Matt Burzon (league-leading 2.06 goals against average) and freshman defenseman Jason Woll, Hanberg and Soik were all-conference selections.

"We lose two key guys next year, but besides that we have just about everyone coming back," Soik said. "It was a close call this year and with everyone coming back, we're really excited about next years chances."

"I said it before, we climbed a mountain, and we reached the pinnacle and now we're all the way down at the base again because now we've got two targets on our chest," Ostapina said, referring to the back-to-back Harris Cup titles after no prior titles in school history. "The mountain climb will be even harder."

It wasn't always this way for the Raiders.

"If you look at us three years ago, our mindset before we came here was, 'There're teams we're not supposed to beat so we're just going to show up,'" senior captain Luke Hasbargen said. "There's no longer that attitude. We show up with the full intention that we're going to win this game and be a competitive team. It gives the potential for us to make the NCAA tournament and that's the next step."

Plenty of people have observed the ascent, with Ostapina noting an increase of 127 percent in attendance over the past year, thanks in large part to the two-year-old Kern Center downtown where the team plays its games.

"Before that, we were out in The Ponds of Brookfield," Hasbargen said. "Practice times were at 7 a.m., so you were up around 5:30 and by the time you're out the door, it's well before six o'clock. You practice and rush back to school to make it to your class.

"Now our practice times are at 3 or 4 o'clock, and the closer you can be to game times, the better you'll be at those times. The biggest thing is the fan support. You've got students - they call it the Red Sea - they show up their red T-shirts. They know there's a hockey program because they can come and watch us when they like."

Ostapina said bringing students to the school for hockey in the first place presents challenges, though his network built as an assistant coach at two previous Division 1 hockey programs (Alaska-Anchorage and Massachusetts-Lowell) has helped bring in recruits from all over the nation, as well as numerous athletes from the home state.

"We basically look for the American player who has great academics," he said. "One of the toughest things is that I go to a game and 95 percent of the players I see can't get into the school. What I can sell is a lifestyle afterwards. I've been at other institutions and players are still asking for letters of recommendation, whereas my guys are graduating and getting great jobs with great salaries and great signing bonuses.

"I think the hockey world in particular knows MSOE hockey and the academic institution a lot better now because of what the program has done," Ostapina added. "I'm very pleased at the recognition across the country that the team has gotten."

Now, if only that NCAA committee would take notice.

"Even if we didn't make the NCAA, I want these guys to hold their heads up high and be proud to be a part of the MSOE family," Hasbargen said.

Notes: Senior forward James Shipley’s career as a Raider isn’t quite over. The Illinois native will serve as one of two Division III players to participate in the inaugural NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge on April 7 at the Bradley Center.

Shipley, who finished with 103 points in his college career for MSOE, was one of six male position player seniors selected for the competition on the "West" squad, a team featuring players from Colorado College, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Denver and Michigan, among others.

Nominated by their coaches and selected by the American College Hockey Coaches Association, the 12 male position players, two goalies, 12 female position players and two goalies will compete in an "East vs. West" format at 7 p.m. Preceding the competition will be the presentation of the Hobey Baker Memorial award to hockey's best player at 6 p.m. and the Hockey Humanitarian Award at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $10 and can be purchased at the Bradley Center or Ticketmaster outlets.