Minnesota won two more games to stay atop the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll for the seventh straight time in Monday’s release. The Golden Gophers, who have been the unanimous pick for No. 1 for four straight polls now, swept Minnesota State over the weekend to run their unbeaten streak to 22 games.
Minnesota has not lost since dropping its first game of the season to Maine, which climbed back to No. 2 this week with a sweep against Massachusetts-Lowell. Following the Black Bears was No. 3 New Hampshire, which beat Vermont twice over the weekend.
Also moving up a notch was St. Cloud State, now ranked fourth after winning two against Alaska-Anchorage to extend its nation-best winning streak to 12 and its unbeaten skein to 15.
Last week’s No. 2, Notre Dame, made room for the Black Bears, Wildcats and Huskies to move up with a split against Robert Morris that ended a seven-game winning streak. The Fighting Irish slipped three places to fifth.
Miami held firm at No. 6 after splitting with Michigan State over the weekend, while Denver crept up a spot to seventh despite a split against Wisconsin. The Pioneers traded places with No. 8 Boston College, which lost to Northeastern before rebounding to beat Providence Sunday.
No. 9 this week was Clarkson, which held its ground after an exhibition win over McGill. Michigan State was likewise unchanged in 10th.
Colorado College inched up to No. 11 after splitting with North Dakota, and Boston University followed the Tigers at No. 12 this time around, beating Northeastern and tying Providence.
Idle Michigan was No. 13, and Cornell fell three places to 14th in the wake of an upset loss to Sacred Heart. Lake Superior State finished at No. 15 after a three-point weekend against Nebraska-Omaha.
Bemidji State and Niagara each moved up two spots to No. 16 and No. 17, respectively. Each team swept its weekend, BSU over Wayne State and Niagara against Colgate and RIT. Vermont was down three places to 18th after its pair of losses to UNH, Quinnipiac finished down three as well, to No. 19, after losing to RIT but beating Princeton, and North Dakota again rounded out the poll at No. 20.
No team dropped out of the top 20 this week, as Sacred Heart was the first team in the “others receiving votes” category after its win over the Big Red.
