With two wins over Alaska last weekend, Notre Dame maintained its hold on first place in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll. The Fighting Irish received 25 of 40 first-place votes to stay atop the rankings for the third straight week.
The top four teams in the poll were unchanged from last week, with Minnesota at No. 2 once more. The Golden Gophers, who swept Colorado College, earned 14 first-place votes, while No. 3 New Hampshire — which lost and tied against Boston University — had the remaining nod for first. Another team that endured a tough weekend of play, St. Cloud State, stayed in fourth despite taking only one point against Wisconsin.
BU moved into the top five with its three-point performance against UNH, as well as its Beanpot title win over Boston College last Monday. The Terriers were followed by Clarkson, which leaped three places to No. 6 with a win over Union and a tie against Rensselaer. The Golden Knights leapfrogged Denver, which nevertheless rose one spot to seventh after an idle weekend.
North Dakota made it four WCHA teams in the top eight, as the Fighting Sioux extended the nation’s longest unbeaten streak to 11 games by tying and then beating Minnesota-Duluth. Following UND was Miami, which rebounded to No. 9 after a sweep of Robert Morris. Completing the top 10 was Michigan, which split a Friday-Sunday series with Lake Superior State.
BC moved up to No. 11, bouncing back from its Beanpot loss to BU with two wins over Maine. Meanwhile, the Black Bears tied for the undesirable distinction of being the week’s biggest casualty in the rankings, falling all the way from fifth to 12th after the losses to the Eagles. Sharing Maine’s fate was Michigan State, which lost Tuesday to Ferris State and was then swept by Western Michigan, dropping seven places to No. 13 this time around.
St. Lawrence edged up to 14th with wins over Rensselaer and Union, and Colorado College dropped one place to No. 15 in the wake of its pair of losses to Minnesota.
Cornell moved two places in the positive direction to No. 16; the Big Red beat Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend. Next up was Vermont; the Catamounts slipped a notch after splitting with Massachusetts, which followed UVM at No. 18 in the new rankings.
Finishing out the poll were Wisconsin, newly returned at No. 19 after its three-point weekend against SCSU, and finally Quinnipiac, which held its ground at No. 20 after splitting with Cornell and Colgate.
Falling out of the poll was Niagara, which took one point in a two-game set with Wayne State.
