I think Notre Dame got lucky here. Quinnipiac was going to get in regardless. But St. Lawrence actually won the ECAC conference title, giving them an auto-bid. 
 

However, their coach tested positive for CoVid and the team removed themselves from consideration. Their auto-bid instead goes to ECAC runner-up, Quinnipiac. So I think that’s probably what opened the door for Notre Dame to sneak in as a 4 seed here. 

Who would want to go to North Dakota?  In March?

The "conspiracy" is a running gripe many of us hockey fans have with the regional system. Michigan hosted three regionals at Yost, and the events were so awesome and the crowd so electric and Michigan so successful (beating higher seeds four times and advancing to three Frozen Fours) that the hockey powers-that-be decided to never allow regionals on campus again. However, North Dakota gets a regional every year now because Fargo isn't "on campus" and it's basically a home game for them, which means that their fans actually buy tickets and go, unlike other "western" neutral sites that are 4-8 hours from any teams and draw only a handful of people.

Brian is suggesting, tongue-in-cheek, that this is a deliberate bit of revenge for hosting North Dakota in 1998 (of course, they already hosted us in a regional 15 years ago, but we still get to complain).

My consternation below is due to the first round draw. I am a Duluth resident. I try, gamely, to be polite about the local team, and I attend at least a game or two every year, this season obviously excepted. There are a number of big UMD hockey fans in my church, including a couple that has held season tickets since the 70s (they have occasionally gifted those seats to me for a game). A Michigan-UMD matchup in the tournament is among my worst sports nightmares. 

It is:  (a) not unexpected, (b) not unreasonable, (c) not good.

Michigan will have to get by the the 2-time defending champion (Minnesota-Duluth) and then the #1 team in the nation (North Dakota) on back-to-back nights to get to the frozen four.  The path to the frozen four would have been much easier if Michigan had been sent to one of the east regionals.

On the other hand, Michigan was a pretty unanimous #8 or #9 team in the nation, which means having to get past #1 in the regional finals.  Nothing unreasonable here; it's just what you get for being #8.  

It is what it is really. As the lowest 2 seed, you really have the tough draw of getting the highest 3 seed and while also getting the #1 overall seed as well. Hockey is such a lucky bounce type game that anyone can beat anyone on any given night.
 

With 4 team regionals and only 16 total teams, there’s really no such thing as a cake walk. Duluth might be the best 3 seed, but the difference between being a 2 and a 3 is semantics for the most part.
 

AIC has a really good record but they’ve played... nobody. Their toughest series was against Quinnipiac and they were outscored 11-5 in the two games. But again, 4 seeds beating a 1 seed is far from unheard of in the NCAA hockey tournament. It’s single elimination so anything can happen. 

North Dakota is really good and it sucks playing them in Fargo. But any 1 seed was going to be really good. Just have to play our A game and hope the bounces go our way. 

Fair point. I love Mel and I'm so glad he's our coach. But trying to cling onto a 2 goal lead for a full 20 mins against the #3 team in the country (who we outplayed for 40 mins by just playing our game) is dumb and it rightfully cost Michigan a shot at the B1G title.