Over the weekend, Michigan locked up the Mason Cup to go with its CCHA regular-season championship, and on Monday the Wolverines again nailed down the No. 1 spot in the nation in the final USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll, this time unanimously.
Michigan beat Northern Michigan and then Miami en route to its tourney crown, but the RedHawks still finished up a spot in second place in this week’s balloting. Miami topped Notre Dame in the CCHA semis before falling Saturday to the Wolverines.
No. 3 this week was North Dakota, up a spot despite a split at the WCHA Final Five. The Fighting Sioux rebounded Saturday with a win over Colorado College in the third-place game one day after losing to No. 4 Denver in the semifinals. The Pioneers went on to beat Minnesota in the championship and moved up tow places in the rankings. New Hampshire, which lost to eventual champion Boston College in the Hockey East semifinals, stayed in place at No. 5 this week.
Down four places after losses to Minnesota and North Dakota was Colorado College at No. 6, while Boston College moved up to seventh with its Hockey East championship, beating Vermont in the title game. The Eagles switched positions with St. Cloud State, which lost to Minnesota in the WCHA play-in game.
Michigan State was idle last weekend and remained in ninth place, followed by Minnesota, which moved up two spots to No. 10.
Clarkson opened the second half of the rankings at No. 11. The Golden Knights, like the Spartans, sat out the championship round last weekend. Notre Dame, which lost to Northern Michigan in the CCHA third-place game, came in at No. 12.
ECAC Hockey champion Princeton rose two places to No. 13 after beating Colgate and Harvard, with Minnesota State, which missed the championship round in the WCHA, in 14th. Boston University, which was taken down by Vermont in the HEA semis, was down to No. 15.
Harvard stayed in 16th after beating Cornell but losing to Princeton, and Wisconsin, which waited out the weekend in the WCHA, was again No. 17 and Vermont came in 18th.
CHA champion Niagara, which completed its pre-NCAA tournament play a week ago, was No. 19, and Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force, which beat RIT and Mercyhurst en route to the title, rounded out the poll at No. 20.
Dropping out was Cornell.
