After going through a nine-game stretch of the second half with only one win, Ferris State was slipping out of the national picture.
Well, the Bulldogs are back. And they’re back in the top 10.
Ferris State, which enters the CCHA Championship with just one loss in its last seven games, is eighth in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, up five spots from last week.
Related link: USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll: March 15
The top five of the rankings are unchanged, with Denver, Miami, Wisconsin, Boston College and North Dakota holding those spots heading into the final weekend before the NCAA tournament field is announced (11:30 a.m. Sunday, ESPN2).
Vermont also moved up five spots to 14th after a three-game series victory over Hockey East regular season champion New Hampshire.
Ferris State plays Northern Michigan in the CCHA semifinals on Friday in Detroit. The Bulldogs are tied for eighth in the PairWise Rankings with a 21-11-6 record.
But they fell to 17-10-4 after losing the first game of a series at Lake Superior State on Feb. 12. They’re 4-1-2 since, including a sweep of Nebraska-Omaha in the CCHA quarterfinals last weekend.
Michigan (17th), Maine (19th) and Boston University (20th) reappeared in the rankings Monday, replacing Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha and Massachusetts-Lowell.
Seven games between ranked teams are scheduled for the play-in or semifinal rounds this weekend. In the WCHA, No. 5 North Dakota plays No. 11 Minnesota-Duluth in Thursday’s play-in game. The winner gets No. 1 Denver on Friday, while No. 3 Wisconsin plays No. 6 St. Cloud State in the semifinals.
In the CCHA semifinals, No. 2 Miami plays No. 17 Michigan and No. 8 Ferris State plays No. 12 Northern Michigan.
In Hockey East, No. 4 Boston College plays No. 14 Vermont and No. 19 Maine faces off against No. 20 Boston University.
