Boston University and Notre Dame continued their stranglehold on the top of the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I men’s poll Monday, finishing first and second once again in the rankings.
The Terriers ran their nation-best unbeaten streak to 14 games with a decisive sweep of Massachusetts and earned 44 of 50 first-place votes, while the Fighting Irish topped Michigan State twice to extend their winning streak to six, the nation’s longest in that category.
Notre Dame received the other six first-place votes to finish second for the fifth straight week. Boston University has been No. 1 in each of those five polls, while BU and ND have now ranked one-two in one order or the other a total of nine straight times.
The rest of the top five was likewise unchanged. No. 3 Michigan won both its games against Ferris State, while fourth-ranked and Hockey East-leading Northeastern claimed a pair of victories over Massachusetts-Lowell.
No. 5 Denver split with St. Cloud State to fall behind North Dakota in the WCHA standings, but remained ahead of the Fighting Sioux in the poll; UND took three of four points against Colorado College Saturday and Sunday and moved up to sixth from last week’s ranking of No. 8.
Vermont also climbed two spots this time around, finishing seventh after a sweep of Maine. The Catamounts leapfrogged Miami, which was ranked eighth in the wake of a split with Ohio State.
No. 9 this week was New Hampshire, which swept Merrimack and moved up three places in the rankings. In doing so, the Wildcats passed Princeton, which slid four spots after losing to Dartmouth and Harvard.
Holding at No. 11 was ECAC Hockey regular-season champion Yale, which beat Cornell to wrap up the title but lost to Colgate Sunday. The Tigers jumped past the Big Red, which beat Brown after that Friday loss but fell two spots.
Colorado College was again 13th, and Ohio State inched up to No. 14. Coming in at No. 15 was St. Lawrence, up two places with wins over Union and Rensselaer.
Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota were next in the rankings after their weekend series, which saw the Gophers take three of four points. UMD was down two positions to No. 16, while the Gophers edged up to 17th.
St. Cloud moved up one spot to No. 18, followed by a fourth straight WCHA team, Wisconsin. The Badgers fell three places to No. 19 after taking one point against Minnesota State. Rejoining the poll after a one-week absence was Boston College, which swept Providence.
Dropping out since last Monday was Massachusetts-Lowell.
