A road split with the nation’s third-ranked team was good enough for the voters, who reaffirmed Minnesota as the No. 1 team in the country in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll.
The Gophers dropped a 3-1 decision Friday before exploding for a 7-2 win Saturday at Colorado College, and earned 27 of 40 first-place votes in this week’s rankings. The Tigers got three first-place nods and stayed at No. 3. They were leapfrogged by Wisconsin, which swept Minnesota-Duluth, picked up eight first-place votes and moved up to second in the rankings, giving the WCHA the nation’s top three teams.
Michigan dominated Notre Dame in a weekend sweep and climbed one spot to fourth, followed by Boston College, which feel three spots to No. 5 after a loss to archrival Boston University and a tie versus Providence. Each of those teams earned one first-place vote as well.
Denver took two from Michigan Tech to inch up to sixth, followed by New Hampshire, which was No. 7 after its North Country sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Eighth place belonged to Ohio State, which won twice against Alaska-Fairbanks.
North Dakota dropped three spots to No. 9 after splitting with Alaska-Anchorage, and Vermont climbed into the top 10 with a win over Northeastern.
Maine took three of four points from Merrimack but slipped one notch to No. 11, tailed by Cornell and then Colgate, both of which beat ECACHL travel partners Yale and Princeton last weekend.
Boston University climbed back into the rankings at No. 14 after beating Boston College and Massachusetts, while Northern Michigan rounded out the poll after sweeping Nebraska-Omaha.
Dropping out of the rankings was Minnesota-Duluth.
