Coming off a pair of ties over the weekend, Colorado College retained a solid majority of first-place votes to stay at No. 1 in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I men’s poll, released Monday.
The Tigers drew both of their games against Clarkson, leaving them still unbeaten but no longer perfect on the season. CC took 37 of the available 50 first-place nods to outdistance Boston College, which climbed back to No. 2 in the poll after beating Vermont Friday. BC earned seven first-place votes.
The rest of the top five was shuffled as well, with Boston University moving up to third, a three-spot climb thanks to a big win over then-No. 5 Michigan. Denver slipped to fourth after splitting with Ohio State, and Minnesota moved into the top five with a win and a tie against Wisconsin. The Terriers, Pioneers and Gophers received one, three and two first-place votes, respectively.
New Hampshire fell two placed to No. 6 after tying Massachusetts and losing to St. Lawrence, and was followed by Miami. The RedHawks jumped up three places to seventh with a sweep of Notre Dame. Michigan, which beat Niagara before its loss to BU, was eighth this week.
Northeastern continued to surge up the rankings, to No. 9 this week. The Huskies’ five-place move was facilitated by a sweep of Maine that moved them ahead of Princeton, which eased down to No. 10. The Tigers, like their Ivy League brethren, have yet to start the regular season.
Michigan State inched up to 11th in the latest poll; the Spartans tied and won against Northern Michigan, though a shootout win Friday gave MSU four points in the CCHA standings. The game, like others this season involving the shootout, is recorded as a tie for NCAA tournament selection purposes.
Minnesota State was next at No. 12 after a bye week, while Notre Dame slipped five places to 13th. Next was Vermont, down three spots, while Clarkson moved up four notches to No. 15.
Cornell, another idle Ivy school, was 16th, while Air Force’s perfect 6-0-0 record got the voters’ attention to place the Falcons at No. 17. AFA swept American International last weekend.
Rounding out the top 20 were No. 18 North Dakota, which was off last weekend, and then St. Cloud State, which dropped four places after splitting with Bemidji State. Harvard was again No. 20.
Dropping out since last week was Northern Michigan.
