Extending its nation-best 18-game unbeaten streak with a sweep of Alaska last weekend, Notre Dame remained the overwhelming choice for No. 1 in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I men’s poll released Monday.
The Fighting Irish, who have not lost since late October, claimed 46 of 50 first-place votes to easily outdistance the field in the latest balloting. Again second was Boston University, which beat Maine to run its own unbeaten streak to 10 Saturday and earned two first-place nods.
Northeastern was third this week after a home-and-home sweep of Merrimack, followed by No. 4 Denver, which beat Michigan Tech twice over the weekend. Rising three places to No. 5 was Cornell; the Big Red, unbeaten in its last eight games after a sweep of Niagara, picked up the remaining two first-place votes.
No. 6 this week was Michigan, up four spots after winning its fifth and sixth straight by besting Miami. Minnesota came in seventh, down four positions after getting swept by North Dakota, while Vermont leaped four notches to No. 8 with a three-point weekend against Boston College. Miami was down three spots to ninth, while Princeton dropped games to Union and Rensselaer and fell three positions to No. 10.
Opening up the second half of the poll was No. 11 Colorado College; the Tigers split their series with Minnesota State. BC was 12th, with New Hampshire coming in at No. 13 after a tie and a win against Massachusetts.
Edging up to 14th was Ohio State, which owns the nation’s longest winning streak, now at 10 games after a sweep of Bowling Green. The Buckeyes are now 13-1-0 in their last 14 games, a remarkable turnaround after starting the season 2-5-1. Next up was 15th-ranked Air Force, which was idle last weekend.
Wisconsin won twice at Alaska-Anchorage to place at No. 16, with North Dakota climbing back into the rankings at 17th. Dartmouth was No. 18 after losing to Yale but beating Brown — the Bulldogs used their wins over DC and Harvard to enter the top 20 at No. 19 this week. Rounding out the poll was Nebraska-Omaha, which split with Northern Michigan.
Dropping out since last week were Alaska and Minnesota Duluth.
