Falling one point — the margin between a first and second place tally — short of unanimity, the St. Norbert Green Knights enter the postseason on a 24-game unbeaten streak, after back-to-back shutouts of Lake Forest last weekend.
The nation’s new No. 2, Plattsburgh, capitalized on a 6-0 blanking of Potsdam and the loss and tie of formerly second ranked Elmira to then-No. 10 Hobart to displace the Soaring Eagles from that position for the first time in over a month. Equally opportunistic was Manhattanville, who — despite splitting a series with No. 15 Neumann — managed to move up one spot.
A more understandable ascension came from the defending national champions. Winners now of seven in a row, the Oswego Lakers rose four spots after defeating Fredonia 4-1 to set up a highly anticipated showdown with second ranked Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC championship game Saturday evening.
Despite struggling on the weekend — shutout 4-0 by Colby before besting then-No. 11 Bowdoin, 6-4 — Norwich remained at No. 6 while Hobart rose three spots after taking three points from new No. 3 Elmira.
Landing in the eighth spot is St. Thomas, who fell four spots after splitting with St. Olaf.
Inexplicably, Adrian actually dropped a spot, despite outscoring their opponent 17-1 on the weekend. Their receiving of the other first place vote — again holding off perfection — perhaps provides a bit solace but irregardless of their perceived lack of competition, the Bulldogs have won 18 straight games — none by fewer than three goals, save a 5-4 overtime win over Marian on Feb. 2.
After defeating Amherst and Hamilton, Middlebury rose two spots to No. 10. By virtue of a sweep of in-state rival Superior, University of Wisconsin-Stout also jumped up two places, landing at No. 11.
The Bowdoin Polar Bears, who beat St. Michael’s 8-2 before falling to No. 6 Norwich, 6-4, dropped a rung to No. 12, tied with UW-River Falls, who dubiously fell five spots after taking just one point at home from St. Scholastica.
Babson’s two wins over Conn. College (in OT) and Tufts held them steady at No. 14 while Neumann’s split with new No. 4 Manhattanville didn’t help them at all with the fickle voters.
