Minnesota’s weekend sweep of Wisconsin, coupled with Maine’s loss to Boston College, opened the door to No. 1 for the Golden Gophers Monday.
Minnesota, riding a nation-best 12-game unbeaten streak, earned 39 of 40 first-place votes to top this week’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll to finish at the top.
The Black Bears, who suffered just their second loss of the year in their only game of the weekend, fell to No. 2 this week. Maine was followed in the rankings by No. 3 Miami, which climbed three spots after sweeping Nebraska-Omaha, and then by Notre Dame, which inched up one position with a home-and-home split with Michigan State.
Boston College nosed back into the top five with its win over Maine and a Friday tie with Northeastern, while the Spartans slipped a couple of spots to No. 6.
Michigan finished seventh with a sweep at Ferris State, while New Hampshire continued its rise in the rankings, up to No. 8 this week after winning a pair against Massachusetts-Lowell.
Ninth place went to North Dakota, which suffered a precipitous drop from No. 3 last week. The Fighting Sioux were swept at Alaska-Anchorage Friday and Saturday. Fellow WCHA squad Denver rounded out the top 10, taking three of four points from Michigan Tech over the weekend.
Kicking off the second half of the poll was Boston University, followed by Cornell and then No. 13 St. Cloud State, which rose four spots after sweeping Clarkson in nonconference play. The Huskies’ four-place jump was second-best this week to Massachusetts, which moved all the way to No. 14, a six-place leap, after thumping Connecticut.
Dartmouth was No. 15, followed by Alaska and then poll newcomer Yale, which entered the top 20 at No. 17. The Bulldogs continued an impressive start to the season by beating Dartmouth and Harvard over the weekend.
Northern Michigan finished No. 18, with Colorado College returning to the rankings at No. 19. Rising Quinnipiac — a winner over Colgate and Cornell — debuted at No. 20.
Dropping out since last week’s poll were Clarkson, Rensselaer and Wisconsin. The defending national champion Badgers debuted as co-No. 1s with Boston College in the preseason poll, but have lost seven of their last eight games.
