College Hockey:Oswego, Norwich Again Rule D-III Roost
Williams College Jumps Up Six Spots to Ninth while Middlebury Falls Half a Dozen Rungs to No. 12 in Jumbled Poll; Colby Replaces Wentworth in Top 15
MINNEAPOLIS — Dj vu all over again.
An identical tally — 298 to 282 overall, 18-2 among first place voters — greeted the nations top two teams in the final Division III poll of January.
While Oswego and Norwich remained eerily dominant, the rest of the poll bears little resemblance to seven days earlier.
Even teams three through five got a bit shaken up.
St. Norbert, playing more and more like their national championship squad of two seasons ago, moved up one spot to third after sweeping in-state rival University of Wisconsin-Superior, 5-2 and 6-3, in De Pere.
The Plattsburgh Cardinals fell one rung to fourth, despite skating to a 1-1 tie with then-No. 15 Williams and defeating Geneseo (4-3) and Brockport (7-1) — all on the road. After a sweep of UW-Eau Claire, St. Scholastica jumped up two spots to fifth.
Given the strong performance of other contenders, Elmiras road sweep of winless Lebanon Valley caused a slight dip in altitude (fourth to sixth) for the Soaring Eagles.
Seventh ranked Amherst remains hot, defeating both Skidmore and Castleton to ascend two spots in the poll and up their record to 12-2-2 on the season. While the Hamline Pipers (eighth) and the Gusties of Gustavus Adolphus (No. 10) didnt change positions, Williams College was the weeks biggest mover, jumping an impressive six spots to ninth.
Another sweep by Adrian lifted the Bulldogs up one spot to No. 11 while Middlebury — 6-0-3 since their last loss on Nov. 27 to Plattsburgh — plummeted six spots to No. 12 after falling to New England College, 7-4, in Henniker, N.H. and getting shutout at St. Anselm, 4-0.
Manhattanville (up from No. 14), UW-River Falls (down from No. 11) and previously unranked Colby round out the top 15.
Wentworth, who lost on the road to Curry, 6-2, fell out the national rankings.
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