Minnesota State ascends to top of USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll after sweeping defending national champ UMass

Nathan Smith scored twice and assisted on another as Minnesota State rallied for a 6-3 win at No. 1 UMass on Sunday (photo: Matt Dewkett).

After sweeping defending national champion Massachusetts, Minnesota State is the new No. 1 team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.

The Mavericks jump four spots in this week’s rankings.

Rounding out the top five, St. Cloud State remains No. 2, as does Michigan at No. 3 and Minnesota at No. 4. Minnesota Duluth is up one to sit fifth this week.

Boston College jumps one spot to No. 6, while UMass tumbles to No. 7, down from the top spot last week.

North Dakota (No. 8), Quinnipiac (No. 9) and Boston University (No. 10) finish off the top 10 with each of the three teams ranked where they were a week ago.

Northeastern is the lone new team in the top 20, joining the poll this week at No. 18.

In addition, 16 other teams received votes in this week’s poll.

The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll consists of 50 voters, including coaches and beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.