After four consecutive weeks of moving up in the national polls and even garnering a first-place vote, Cornell fell one spot to No. 8 in yesterday’s USCHO.com poll. The Red (18-6-1, 14-3-1 ECAC) lost its first game in nine tries, as it dropped a 1-0 overtime decision at Dartmouth last Friday. The team rebounded to beat Vermont the following night 5-2, maintaining a seven-point lead over the second-place Green in the ECAC standings.
The top five teams held place from last week with Denver in first place, followed by St. Cloud, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Michigan State. However, all the first-place votes stayed in the WCHA, as Denver collected 35, and St. Cloud cleaned up the remaining five.
Boston University jumped up two places to No. 6 after taking both of its contests versus UMass-Lowell in a home-and-home series. The River Hawks, who have been on the slide as of late, slipped to 14th-place.
Colorado College also fell one place to No. 7 after splitting with Minnesota.
Maine and Michigan swapped places, as the Black Bears took three of four points from Providence while the Wolverines lost to rival MSU, 3-1.
Rounding out the poll are No. 11 Alaska-Fairbanks, No. 12 Northern Michigan, No. 13 Northeastern and No. 15 Western Michigan.
Cornell is the only team in its conference to be ranked in the top-15, but Dartmouth, which also beat Colgate, managed to amass 12 votes while RPI, which swept Princeton and Yale on the road, got nine votes.
The Red lies one spot lower, at ninth, in the Pairwise Rankings.
Here are the leaders of the major conferences in Division I: Michigan and Michigan State (CCHA), Wayne State (CHA), Cornell (ECAC), New Hampshire (HEA), Mercyhurst (MAAC), and Denver has a one-point lead over St. Cloud in the WCHA.
Archived article by Sun Staff