Minnesota maintained its stranglehold on the USCHO.com/CSTV Networks Division I men’s poll Monday, earning 38 of 40 first-place votes to claim the No. 1 spot in the nation for the fourth straight week.
With a week still to go in the WCHA regular season, the Gophers won the MacNaughton Cup with a road sweep of Alaska-Anchorage. Minnesota is now 16-1-1 in its last 18 games and unbeaten in its last 10.
CCHA regular-season champion Miami moved up to No. 2 in the poll after a sweep of Bowling Green, claiming the remaining two first-place votes.
The RedHawks were followed by Boston University, which moved up one position despite a pair of ties against Vermont last weekend, and then by No. 4 Michigan State, which took three points from Lake Superior State to climb one spot, extending its own unbeaten streak to nine games.
Dropping down three places to No. 5 was Wisconsin, which suffered a sweep at the hands of Minnesota State. The Badgers, who were No. 1 in the nation for much of the season, are just 3-7-1 in their last 11 games. Tied with Wisconsin for fifth this week was Colorado College, which inched up after winning two games at Minnesota-Duluth.
Maine nailed down the No. 7 ranking with a sweep of Merrimack, followed by Cornell, which lost to Rensselaer before beating Union last weekend. Boston College was again No. 9 in the wake of a split with Massachusetts-Lowell.
Denver climbed two spots to finish at No. 10 after splitting with North Dakota, which also moved up in the poll, to No. 11.
Nebraska-Omaha fell out of the top 10 after taking just one point at Western Michigan, finishing at No. 12 this week. The Mavericks were trailed by Harvard, Michigan and then No. 15 New Hampshire.
Colgate, the ECACHL’s co-champion in the regular season, moved up four spots to No. 16, followed by Vermont and the ECACHL’s other co-champion, Dartmouth, which tied at No. 17.
St. Cloud State was No. 19, and Northern Michigan rounded out the top 20. Dropping out of Monday’s rankings was St. Lawrence.
