Top Team and an Underdog Both Have Doubters PROVIDENCE, R.I. - One team was consistently ranked in the top five all season. The other is one game above .500 and just barely snuck into the N.C.A.A. men's hockey tournament. Yet what matters is that No. 1 Quinnipiac and No. 4 Canisius will both be on the ice at the Dunkin" Donuts Center on Saturday as they kick off the first round of the East regional. "We need to be ready to play," Quinnipiac Coach Rand Pecknold said after his team practiced Friday. He added that Canisius "is a great hockey team. As we all know, anything can happen in the N.C.A.A."s." Pecknold's Bobcats have been the No. 1 team in the PairWise rankings since Jan. 19, though they were knocked out of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament in the semifinals last weekend. Their 27-7-5 record has earned them the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament this year. "As much as people like to say stuff, our team does a good job just focusing on what we have to do each day in practice, working hard," the senior forward Jeremy Langlois said. We don't really look too much into the rankings and this or that. It's kind of looking forward to the next game and what you have to do to win. Canisius" road to the tournament is almost the opposite. The Golden Griffs were 11-18-5 after a loss on Feb. 23, but they won eight straight games since then, including six straight in their conference tournament to win the Atlantic Hockey's automatic bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament. "For us, nothing has changed all year other than what outside people are seeing in the wins and the losses," Coach Dave Smith said. This will be the first ever N.C.A.A. tournament game for Canisius, and the players have been soaking up the experience. "The guys have been taking it in stride," the junior goaltender Tony Capobianco said. For the most part, guys have been loose. Pecknold has seen tape from some of the Griffs" recent games and said that their play is better than their record may indicate. "I've been really impressed with them," Pecknold said. I've watched a number of games and highlights from the 8-0 run they're on and they look outstanding. Watching their power play and how good their goalie is, I can't understand how they lost games early in the year. While Capobianco has caught Pecknold's eye, the Bobcats have a top-notch goalie of their own, the senior Eric Hartzell. He has a program-record 10 career shutouts and entered tournament play with a 1.52 goals against average, good for third best in the nation. Though both teams have outstanding goalies, many critics are overlooking both teams in the national picture. The Griffs are the ultimate underdog, and are not being given much of a thought in the first round, never mind advancing out of the regional. They're used to that, though, and they have no problem with it. Canisius forward Kyle Gibbons said throughout the conference playoffs "no one has picked us to win." "That's fine with us," he said. We're certainly not going to strive for people to pick us to win games. We've kind of been the underdog, but I don't think it changes anything for us. Meanwhile, though they might not be the popular pick to make it out of the East regional and into the Frozen Four, the Bobcats are taking that as motivation. "We want to prove we're a legit team," Qunnipiac defenseman Zack Currie said. We have what it takes to go the whole way. I think, more than anything, it's just exciting to have doubters. If they want to doubt then we're fine with that. Pecknold, though, said that his team doesn't need that outside motivation to play their game. They practice. They compete. They work hard," Pecknold said. It's an awesome group of guys with great character, very resilient. We're just going to keep doing what we've been doing all year.