New Hampshire held onto the top spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, but with a tie against unranked Northeastern on Friday night, lost its commanding lead over the rest of the pack. The Wildcats garnered 20 of the 40 first-place votes.
The remaining first-place votes were split evenly between the next two teams, No. 2 Denver and No. 3 Boston College, each of which were chosen as the top team by 10 voters this week. Denver, which won two games against Alabama-Hunstville this weekend, received more points overall. Boston College finished in third place after defeating visiting Wisconsin on Friday evening, 4-2, and with a 4-3 victory over Mass.-Lowell on Saturday.
Minnesota, defending national champions, earned a win and a tie against Michigan tech at Houghton, and dropped one spot to No. 4. Rounding out the top five is Michigan, which won a pair of conference games against visiting Alaska-Fairbanks.
Entering the poll this week is No. 13 Ferris State, which improved to 5-1-0 on the season following a weekend sweep of Notre Dame. With the two wins, Ferris State sits atop the CCHA standings with four conference wins.
This weekend will see the first official action of the season for the Ivy League schools in the top 15, as No. 8 Cornell visits Ohio State and No. 15 Harvard travels to Brown. Hockey East has a showdown of powerhouses, as No. 1 New Hampshire hosts No. 7 Boston University on Saturday night.
The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 40 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 12 beat writers from across the country. The poll is published weekly by the Associated Press.
