The top seven teams in the USCHO.com Division I men’s hockey poll went a combined 8-5 over the past week, allowing the two teams in that group that went unbeaten — Cornell and Boston College — to jump two spots to third and fourth, respectively, in this week’s poll.
Top-ranked Colorado College held on to its spot despite splitting a home series with No. 7 Minnesota. No. 2 Maine also stayed put after a 5-2 loss to Boston College and a 4-2 win over Merrimack.
The Red moved back into the third spot in the poll, where it was earlier in the season before losing to Maine at a holiday tournament in Florida. Big wins over Dartmouth and Vermont during the weekend helped Cornell’s cause.
Boston College also notched a pair of wins, both by 5-2 scores. The Eagles beat Northeastern in the annual Beanpot Tournament, then followed with the win over Maine.
Due to the losses suffered by Colorado College and Maine, all of the top four teams garnered at least one first-place vote, with the Red earning two top picks. Last week, only the top two teams were at the head of the ballots.
North Dakota fell two spots to fifth. The Fighting Sioux crushed Michigan Tech 8-0, only to lose to the same team the next day, 5-2. New Hampshire similarly dropped two spots to sixth, losing 5-2 to Providence in its only game this week.
The teams in the seventh through 10th spots held their ground this week.
Boston University continued its climb back up the ladder, moving up another spot to No. 11 after a 2-1 win over Harvard in the Beanpot and a 2-0 win at Massachusetts.
MSU-Mankato moved up two spots from 14th to 12th despite being idle. It was helped by Minnesota-Duluth’s sweep of Denver, which dropped Denver from 11th to 14th. Harvard, the only other ECAC team in the top 15, stayed at the 13th spot after the Boston University loss and a 6-4 win over Rensselaer.
St. Cloud State remained the No. 15 team after a week off.
Yale was the only other ECAC team to receive votes, earning 10 nods. Dartmouth, which had received votes last week, was left off all ballots after the 6-1 loss to the Red on Friday.
Cornell is 4-2 against currently ranked teams this season, and will take a shot at improving that record on Saturday when it visits Harvard. The Red defeated Harvard 5-2 earlier this year at Lynah Rink.
Archived article by Sun Staff