After losing both games of this past weekend’s home-and-home series to Central New York neighbor Colgate, the men’s hockey team found itself dropped from the weekly USCHO.com poll. Meanwhile, Colgate, which moved to second place in the ECAC with the four-point weekend, made its first appearance of the year in the top 15, checking in at the 15th spot.
With its 6-1 win and 1-1 tie at home against Denver, the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota remained at No. 1, earning 27 of the 40 possible first-place votes. Boston College, which has been second in the polls for weeks, stays planted there after its 4-0 win over Hockey East rival Providence.
After flipping positions last week, Maine and Michigan switched places again, as the Bears overtook the Wolverines for the nation’s third spot. Both teams swept their opponents, but it was Maine which had the more impressive performance — a home sweep of UNH. Despite outscoring Lake Superior State 9-1 in two games, Michigan dropped to No. 4.
No. 5 Minnesota, led by defenseman Keith Ballard’s four points, swept Wisconsin in two tightly contested contests.
Staying put at No. 6 was Minnesota-Duluth, which had the week off. The Bulldogs will return to action against a Minnesota-State team that has loads of offense. Miami (OH) continued its steady climb up the polls, rising four spots to No. 7 following an impressive road sweep of Michigan State in which it allowed just two goals.
St. Cloud State moved up to No. 8 without even having to suit up, while Wisconsin and UNH dropped to the No. 9 and No. 10 spots, respectively, following their losses over the weekend.
Denver slipped to 11th after its performance against North Dakota, while ECAC-leading Brown rose to No. 12 with its 2-1 overtime win against Harvard. Ohio State moved up two places to No. 13, followed by Massachusetts, which earned an eight-point weekend with a pair of wins, combined by two forfeits by UMass-Lowell. Colgate rounded out the poll at 15th.
Archived article by Alex Ip