St. Norbert kept its perch at No. 1 for a fourth straight time in this week’s USCHO.com Division III men’s poll, again receiving 14 first-place votes and one fifth-place vote. The Green Knights downed Lake Forest to advance to the NCHA championship game next Saturday.
Staying at No. 2, and receiving the other first-place vote, is St. John’s. The Johnnies, idle last weekend, are the top seed in this week’s MIAC playoffs. Maintaining the third position is Trinity; the Bantams beat Tufts, 9-2, in the NESCAC quarterfinals, and will host that league’s championship series this coming weekend.
At No. 4 again this week is Wisconsin-Superior, which advanced to the NCHA championship game with a win over Wisconsin-River Falls. Up two places to No. 5 is Middlebury, after a 3-0 NESCAC quarterfinal win over Hamilton.
Dropping just one spot after a win over Lebanon Valley and a 5-1 home loss to Utica is No. 6 Manhattanville. Moving up one position to No. 7 is Norwich, which rolled up a 16-0 win over Castleton State in the ECAC East first round.
Moving up two spots to No. 8 is ECAC West regular season champion Utica, which won the right to host its league playoffs with the win over Manhattanville. Staying put at No. 9 is Babson, after an 8-0 win over Mass.-Boston in an ECAC East quarterfinal.
Up two positions to tenth is St. Thomas; the MIAC second-seeded Tommies beat Concordia twice last weekend to finish the regular season. Geneseo, which hosts the SUNYAC finals this coming weekend, moved up two spots to No. 11 after a tie and a win over Fredonia in that league’s semifinal round.
Oswego plummetted from sixth to 12th after the SUNYAC’s top seed lost two games at home to Plattsburgh. Up one position from No. 14 is Bowdoin, after a 6-4 win against Amherst in the NESCAC quarterfinal round.
At No. 14, down three spots, is Wisconsin-River Falls, while entering the poll after several weeks away is Plattsburgh, after the Cardinals advanced to the SUNYAC finals with the pair of wins at Oswego.
Bounced from the poll is Fredonia; after a loss and tie at Geneseo, the Blue Devils received just one 15th-place vote.
Also receiving votes were Curry, Colby, Hobart, Bethel, Fredonia, MCHA champion Milwaukee School of Engineering, and RIT.
The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 15 voters, including coaches and beat writers from across the country.
