The order of the top 15 teams in the USCHO.com Division I men’s hockey poll was shuffled again this week, as only two of the top seven teams went through the past week without a loss.
Cornell made the biggest splash this week, jumping into the second spot after a tie against Brown and a win over No. 15 Harvard on the road. The Red received 10 first-place votes. The No. 2 ranking is the highest any ECAC team has ever been slotted in the poll.
Colorado College stayed at the top of the heap, although it lost some ground in the points department. The Tigers rebounded from a 4-2 loss at No. 14 St. Cloud State to earn the split with a 5-3 win the next night.
Maine, which beat the Red 3-2 earlier this season, dropped from second to third after a loss and a tie against Providence at home. Despite being ranked behind Cornell, Maine is still ahead of the Red in the PairWise rankings.
New Hampshire rose two spots to fourth with a win and a tie against Northeastern. Another Hockey East team, Boston College, rounds out the top five. The Eagles dropped a rung after a loss to No. 9 Boston University in the Beanpot final and a split in a home-and-home series with Merrimack.
Defending national champion Minnesota moved up to sixth after a pair of convincing wins at home against Wisconsin. North Dakota, which had been ranked No. 1 earlier this season, slipped to seventh after a tie and a loss at No. 13 Denver.
Ferris State and Boston University both had perfect weeks to move up to the eighth and ninth spaces, respectively. Michigan fell from eighth to No. 10 after a home-and-home split with rival Michigan State.
Ohio State, which Cornell has both won and lost against this season, was knocked one spot down to No. 11 after splitting a pair of games at Miami.
MSU-Mankato held on to the 12th spot after a pair of big wins on the road against Alaska-Anchorage. MSU-Mankato and Colorado College, in the top spot, were the only schools to remain at their positions from last week.
Denver and St. Cloud state each won one game this weekend from higher-ranked opponents, moving both teams up one spot to 13th and 14th, respectively. Harvard, the only other ranked ECAC team, fell to No. 15 after losing to the Red, despite a 4-1 win over Northeastern and a 7-0 win over Colgate.
Two other ECAC teams received votes but did not crack the top 15. Yale notched 18 points, eight more than last week, and Dartmouth picked up a pair of points. The Green had received votes earlier this season but had fallen off the radar screen after a 3-6-1 slide.
The only matchup between ranked teams in the coming week is a pair of games between North Dakota and MSU-Mankato. Cornell will play its last regular season home games this weekend as it hosts Rensselaer and Union.
Archived article by Sun Staff