Suddenly it is all very simple for the Miami University RedHawk ice hockey team.
A path to a national championship that once included a long regular season CCHA playoffs and seeding in the NCAA tournament has now been laid out for head coach Enrico Blasi's squad. Win your next four games and be crowned national champions in Denver just over two weeks from now.
The season has been full of surprises and adaptations for the RedHawks, who lost preseason Hobey Baker Award favorite Nathan Davis for much of the season. Good teams respond well to adversity, and that's what the Red and White has done so far this season.
Miami has compiled a record throughout the season that gave the NCAA committee reason to seed the team as the number two overall seed in the tournament. Even so, the national reaction to the Redhawks' success has caught me a bit off-guard.
In my time at Miami, the RedHawks have put dominant teams on the ice, and despite the knowledge that last year's NCAA tournament victory was the first in the history of the school, it was impossible for me to imagine Miami's hockey program without its top 10 national ranking and shiny new arena.
The fact that the status-quo seems like such a natural position for Miami is a testament to the quality of the work that has been put into the program by the players and coaches, and the dedication from the school to build a first class hockey program.
As Miami sits awaiting to play in the NCAA tournament, in which the team has its best chance ever to be extremely successful, it is all the more important to marvel at the progress that the team has made in just the past few years.
As natural as the success of the team seems to me, in my second year in Oxford, and truly, second year paying any level of attention to college hockey, the national perspective on Miami's success is somewhat different.
The traditional powers on the college hockey scene are regarded highly while Miami is still thought of as the plucky (perhaps overachieving) underdog, despite their dominant performance this season.
In some respects this makes sense. The two teams in maroon and gold that will skate in Miami's regional have impressive pedigrees that the RedHawks, admittedly, lack.
The Boston College Eagles won the national championship at the beginning of this decade, and after knocking the RedHawks out of the tournament last year, took their season all the way to the final game, coming up short to Michigan State.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers have appeared in the NCAA tournament a record 32 times, including the past eight consecutive years.
But what matters now is what happens on the ice during the next four games. Miami has proven this season that they can skate with any team that lines up against them, and have had a good chance at beating all but one of the teams that they have played so far.
That team, the Michigan Wolverines, will not be an obstacle to the RedHawks until the national championship game-should Miami be good (and lucky) enough to get that far.
Right now, all that Miami can do is to take the ice without fear, and with confidence in what they have accomplished so far this season.
