Coming off its Beanpot title win and a three-point weekend against Maine, Boston University retained its top spot in Monday’s USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I men’s poll.
The Terriers received 44 of 50 first-place votes to outdistance No. 2 Notre Dame, which swept Northern Michigan over the weekend and claimed the remaining six first-place nods. Next up was third-ranked Michigan, which won twice against Nebraska-Omaha and moved up one place.
Swapping places with the Wolverines to come in fourth was Northeastern. The Huskies were beaten by BU in the Beanpot final, then split a series against Massachusetts. Fifth was Miami, up two places after sweeping Lake Superior State.
Vermont was No. 6 this week, down one spot in the wake of a split with Merrimack, while ECAC Hockey member Yale was the first team from outside of Hockey East and the CCHA in the poll. The Bulldogs moved up three spots to No. 7 after wins over Union and Rensselaer; Yale’s unbeaten streak of nine games is second-best nationally to BU’s 10-game stretch.
Holding steady in eighth was Denver, which tied its lone game of the weekend against Colorado College. The Pioneers were followed by North Dakota, which returned to the top 10 after sweeping Minnesota State. Princeton rounded out the first half of the poll, down one position after beating Clarkson and losing to St. Lawrence.
At No. 11 in the latest rankings was Cornell. The Big Red lost to Dartmouth and Harvard and dropped five places from last week. Next up was New Hampshire, staying in place after taking three of four points versus Providence.
Idle Wisconsin was 13th again this week, followed by Minnesota. The Golden Gophers took three points against Alaska-Anchorage and held at No. 14 while fellow WCHA squad Minnesota Duluth moved up two spots to 15th during a bye week.
Ohio State stayed put at No. 16 despite a tie (a shootout loss for CCHA purposes) and a loss to Michigan State, while Boston College moved down to No. 17 after beating Harvard in the Beanpot consolation, then losing and tying against Massachusetts-Lowell.
At No. 18 was Colorado College, while two teams rejoined the poll in the final two spots. St. Cloud State was 19th after a sweep of Michigan Tech and St. Lawrence finished at No. 20 with wins over Quinnipiac and Princeton.
Dropping out since last week were Dartmouth and Air Force.
