A week off was just the tonic for Notre Dame to re-establish its dominance in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll.
The CCHA regular-season champion, which earned a bye through the first round of the conference playoffs, took 36 of 40 first-place votes in Monday’s release to remain No. 1 for the fifth straight week.
Minnesota, which split its weekend series with Michigan Tech, rebounded to No. 2 this week with the remaining four first-place votes. The Gophers edged past St. Cloud State, which was down a place to third after tying and then losing to North Dakota.
New Hampshire likewise slipped one spot to No. 4 in the wake of two losses to Boston College, and Clarkson, which was idle while awaiting its ECACHL quarterfinal opponent, moved up to fifth.
UND climbed two spots to No. 6 and BC was up two places, as well, in seventh this week. Boston University, which lost to Northeastern last Wednesday in its regular-season finale, fell three places to No. 8.
CCHA bye teams Miami and Michigan, both of which were idle over the weekend, were ninth and 10th, respectively.
Opening the second half of the poll was Denver, which managed one of four points in a series with archrival Colorado College, and fell from seventh to No. 11. Two more teams which had the weekend off — St. Lawrence and Michigan State — each nosed up one spot to 12th and 13th, respectively.
Maine, which lost a pair against Massachusetts, fell three positions to No. 14, followed by the Minutemen, who moved up one to No. 15.
CC finished at No. 16, also up one spot, followed by No. 17 Dartmouth, which had the weekend off. Michigan Tech stayed at No. 18 in Monday’s results, and Vermont was down four places to 19th after losing and tying Massachusetts-Lowell. Rounding out the top 20 was idle Cornell, holding its ground from last week’s poll.
