With a shutout of defending NCAA champion Michigan State Saturday, North Dakota cemented its hold on the top spot in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll.
The Fighting Sioux, who won 6-0 against the Spartans, earned 46 first-place votes to easily retain the No. 1 ranking they held in the preseason.
Following UND was Miami, which beat then-No. 20 Vermont twice and rose to No. 2, with Ice Breaker champion Minnesota at No. 3 after wins against Rensselaer and Michigan. Boston College, which lost to the Wolverines before rebounding to top the Engineers, came in fourth, and Denver skyrocketed eight places to fifth after sweeping Maine.
Michigan’s split at the Ice Breaker was good enough to send it up four places to No. 6, with Clarkson holding its ground in seventh with a loss to St. Lawrence and wins over Massachusetts and Providence in the two weeks since the preseason poll.
New Hampshire, which has yet to open its regular season, was No. 8, trailed by Michigan State and then idle Colorado College in 10th.
Notre Dame, which lost to Wisconsin before rebounding to beat Mercyhurst, was No. 11, with Lefty McFadden champion Ohio State — a winner over both of the same teams — moved up seven spots to 12th.
Wisconsin’s split in Ohio put the Badgers at No. 13, with idle Quinnipiac next. St. Lawrence, like Clarkson one of the few teams to have three games under its belt already, was No. 15 after beating Clarkson and Providence but losing to UMass.
The remaining five teams in the poll were St. Cloud State, which took three points from Canisius, and then Maine, Boston University — which fell nine places after losing to Robert Morris and tying Alaska-Anchorage at the Nye Frontier Classic — and finally idle Cornell and UMass.
